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A significant amount of research is currently being done to improve vehicle and road
system efficiency or to reduce the effects of traffic on the environment. However,
coming from a huge megacity in Ecuador means Alex Perez has witnessed the effect
on his neighbours of poor air quality caused from traffic. He’s decided to buck the trend
and focus his research on helping pedestrians walking in high-traffic areas.
“The impact of traffic on the air quality experienced by pedestrians has not really been
studied before,” says Perez, a PhD student in civil engineering, who is studying
sustainable energy development. “In the end, I want to create a scalable model that
allows governments of any size, and with any budget, to make good policy decisions.
I want them to be able to reduce the emissions from traffic in high density areas so they
can mitigate the adverse affects on the people who must live and work in those areas.”
Perez was attracted to the University of Calgary because of the sophisticated research
and thinking currently being done on the effects of traffic behaviour and intelligent
transportation systems. His interest was sparked because in large cities, like his home
town of Quito, pedestrians are almost always breathing in concentrated CO2 emissions
from heavy traffic. However, Perez believes people who are around schools, hospitals,
parking lots or other heavy traffic areas in any city experience the same health concerns.
Perez expects to go beyond his current research project and spend his career as a
researcher because he’s always looking to solve a challenge with solutions that have
realistic applications. A self-confessed thinker, he readily admits he can’t use a piece
of software without first seeing if he can improve it or make it more efficient.
“If you don’t understand the problem, you cannot solve it,” says Perez. “Doing research
is important because it uncovers real problems. I want my research to lead me to
develop a reliable environmental tool that is simple and practical so people can really
use it. We all need to breathe and those of us affecting air quality today need to take
responsibility for future generations’ health.”
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