COLBY COLLEGE • April 25, 2024
Associate Professor of Chemistry Karena McKinney studies biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), or in layman’s terms, the emissions from trees. “As an atmospheric chemist, I’m looking at chemical processes related to air quality and climate. My research has been focused specifically on plant emissions of organic compounds, which affect atmospheric composition, and how they interact with other, human-made emissions,” said McKinney. “Forest emissions contribute to small particles that form in the atmosphere that generally have a cooling effect on climate. As climate changes, the trees change, which impacts the emissions, and it becomes a feedback loop. I want to understand how it’s changing.”