You are currently viewing Featured BSEH Alumna: Michelle Spruill McCombs

Featured BSEH Alumna: Michelle Spruill McCombs

Michelle (Spruill) McCombs (BSEH 1996) is an Exposure Scientist/Chemist at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, NC. She uses the RTI MicroPEMâ„¢ sensor in human exposure studies to assess personal and ambient levels of PM2.5 and PM10 air pollutants for both adults and children. RTI partners with other organizations like ECU to help study health effects (specifically asthma) in families living in areas affected by major storms. Some of her other studies measure indoor air pollution from cookstoves in other countries around the world including India and Bangladesh. Another research project she works on analyzes the vapor phase of exhaled e-cigarette vapors for the quantification of nicotine and other compounds. These studies generate knowledge between air pollution sources, emissions, exposures, and health outcomes to promote environmental health. Other areas of environmental pollutant human exposure assessments include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbonyls, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ozone and nitrogen dioxide. She has also done method development for analysis of these compounds by gas chromatography (GC), GCMS, GCMS-TOF, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Read more about RTI International at the following links:

Photos courtesy of Michelle McCombs

Michelle shows the RTI MicroPEMâ„¢ sensor that she uses in human exposure studies to assess personal and ambient levels of PM2.5 and PM10 air pollutants. Research Triangle Park, NC, July 20, 2017.
Michelle participates at RTI in promoting #ActualLivingScientist to address survey results showing that a large percentage of the population today could not name a living scientist. Research Triangle Park, NC, July 20, 2017.