Dr Omar Nawaz

(he/him)

Research

You can find more information about my research interests and projects on my website under the research tab: http://omarnawaz.com/ but currently, my interests span five major categories:

Co-benefits of Climate Action

Climate action is irrevocably linked to air pollution. Sources of greenhouse gases often co-emit air pollutants and their chemical precursors; thus, action targeting greenhouse gases can result in air pollution-related co-benefits that are realized through improvements in air quality.

Remote Sensing of Air Pollution

Remote sensing instruments measure concentrations of atmospheric trace gases such as NO₂ and aerosol optical depth with implications for PM_2.5 concentrations. These satellite-derived data are capable of characterizing air pollution in areas where air quality monitoring stations are limited (i.e., predominantly rural communities and the global south). These data can also be used to validate model simulations and identify areas and sources that may be under- or over-estimated.

Characterizing the Sources of Air Pollution

Understanding the sources that contribute to air pollution is essential for developing effective action to improve air quality and remove its associated health impacts. Adjoint modeling can be used to link sources of pollution to receptors to identify the most important drivers of local or regional air pollution.

Estimating the Health Effects of Wildfires

Wildfires are a significant source of air pollution - primarily of PM_2.5 - and their air quality-related health impacts present a significant public health challenge. As the effects of climate change are realized, it is likely that wildfires will increase in frequency and severity.

Estimating Surface Pollution

Estimates of surface-level pollution are vital for epidemiological, risk assessment, and environmental justice studies; however, there are challenges in characterizing pollution at relevant spatial and temporal resolution. Satellite-derived data can provide clues about pollution levels at the surface, but additional data integrated through determinstic, statistical, and machine learning methods are needed to convert columns to surface-level estimates.

Teaching

I begin teaching Fall 2025, and I will be the module lead of:

• Oceans and Atmospheres (Semester 1)

I will also contribute teaching to:

• Year 1 Environmental Data Project for Geographers
• GIS, maps, and analytical skills (Semester 1)

Biography

I began working as a Lecturer in Climate Change Science in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Cardiff University in March 2025. I plan to teach both the Year 2 Oceans and Atmospheres module and the Year 1 GIS, maps, and analytical skills module in Fall 2025. My current research projects include: (1) developing surface-level estimates of pollution using satellite data and machine-learning and (2) performing earth-system and adjoint model simulations to better understand how climate action - or inaction - could affect health and the equal distribution and transport of pollution.

Previously I conducted my postdoctoral research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in which I worked with stakeholder groups to include considerations of equity and health in climate modeling, developed remote-sensing datasets to estimate surface-level pollution for health studies including the GBD 2023 study, evaluated the performance of new geostationary satellite observations, and compared airborne, satellite, and ground-level monitoring of pollution sources. Additionally, in this role I taught a postgraduate course on Global Climate Change and Air Pollution.

Prior to that, I studied for my PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder. In this position, I performed research that applied adjoint and earth-system modeling using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to understand the sources that contribute to urban and country-scale pollution and additionally I evaluated how changes in human emission patterns could influence air quality and health in the future.

I began my career in climate change and air quality research at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a researcher there, I developed a GIS approach to integrate US CDC county-level disease rates, with remote sensing derived pollution, and population data to estimate air pollution health impacts in the United States.

Honours and awards

Professional memberships

Academic positions

• 2025 - Present: Lecturer in Climate Change Science, Cardiff University, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• 2023 - 2025: Postdoctoral Research Associate, George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
• 2018 - 2022: Research Assistant, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Mechanical Engineering
• 2016 - 2018: Research Assistant, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Committees and reviewing

Supervisions

Potential Project Topics

• Estimating the health and equity impacts of climate policies
• Applying machine-learning to satellite observations of air pollution to estimate surface-level concentrations
• Quantifying the impacts of wildfire smoke on health
• Understanding how the sources of air pollution differ across different environments (e.g., Urban vs. Rural communities)