Dr. Vicken Etyemezian, Research Professor

Title: Research Professor
Affiliation: Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Location: DRI Las Vegas
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 702.862.5569

Research Areas

• Fugitive dust emissions and controls
• Source apportionment
• Dispersion and deposition in the near-source region
• Instrument development

Professional Interests

Dr. Etyemezian currently holds the position of Research Professor in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences of the Desert Research Institute, where he conducts research and air quality studies. Dr. Etyemezian is active in several ongoing air quality studies including the Salton Sea Ecosystem Restoration Study, Causes of Dust-Resultant Haze Assessment, Testing and Quantification of PM2.5 and PM10 Emissions from Unique Military Activities, and two DoD studies focusing on dust emissions and quantification from military activities.

Dr. Etyemezian's research interests and specialties include development of new measurement techniques for ambient and source aerosol measurement, direct measurement and quantification of fugitive dust emissions, source apportionment, design of field sampling campaigns for air quality studies, data management, data analysis, and use of GIS systems in air quality engineering.

As principal investigator in the Treasure Valley Road Dust Study (Boise, ID), Dr. Etyemezian improved upon the existing methods for estimating paved and unpaved road dust emissions. Completion of the study, which relied heavily on the novel TRAKER technology, resulted in the most detailed, measurement-based, road dust emissions inventory to date. Dr. Etyemezian is the co-inventor of the TRAKER system (Testing Re-entrained Aerosol Kinetic Emissions from Roads). The ability of TRAKER to obtain highly spatially resolved distributions of potential road dust emissions represents a breakthrough in dust emission measurement and inventory.

Dr. Etyemezian is the principal inventor of the PI-SWERL system (Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Laboratory). The ability of PI-SWERL to obtain rapid measurements of soil wind erodibility potential represents a breakthrough in aeolian emission measurement and inventory. After developing the PI-SWERL instrument, Dr. Etyemezian, through DRI, pursued a US Patent on the technology. Since then, he and his partner, Mr. George Nikolich have commercialized the instrument and began selling it through their company Dust-Quant LLC in July 2008.

Dr. Etyemezian supplements his experience in conducting air quality measurements with the modeling of pollutant dispersion and deposition immediately downwind of ground-level sources. Focusing on phenomena occurring immediately downwind of a source, he has demonstrated that for certain atmospheric conditions, PM10 emissions as measured at the source require discounting to allow for the removal of particles by surface roughness elements such as vegetation and buildings.

As part of his doctoral research, Dr. Etyemezian investigated the effects of air pollutants on the degradation of limestone buildings. This work drew heavily on modeling of particle transport and deposition in boundary layer flows, modeling and measurement of particle deposition and rain impingement on outdoor structures, and measurement of air pollutant concentrations, pollutant deposition rates, and meteorological parameters in the field. While obtaining a Master's degree and working as a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Etyemezian focused on drinking water quality, wastewater treatment, and environmental aquatic chemistry.