Hi there!

I'm Haoran (Randy) Yu, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Email: hy18 AT ualberta DOT ca

Website: http://www.randyyu.com/, https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/hy18

Introduction to myself

I had my postdoc career in Environmental Engineering and Sciences at the Air Quality Research Center, University of California Davis with Dr. Anthony Wexler (https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/wexler/). I received my Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering (ranked #3 in the U.S.) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in May 2022, under the supervision of Prof. Vishal Verma. During my Ph.D., I had been collaborating with Dr. Brent Stephens (from Illinois Institute of Technology), Dr. Alexander Laskin, and Dr. Simon Hu (from ZJU-UIUC). During 2014-2016, I studied in the M.S. program in Environmental Engineering and Sciences at the University of Florida and worked with Dr. Chang-Yu Wu (currently working at the University of Miami).

Currently, I have been focusing on a variety of research initiatives that connect air pollutants to their chemical composition, origins and fates, and health outcomes. I am enthusiastic about improving awareness in understanding the mechanisms of the effect of ambient pollution on the human body, measuring the toxicological term of ambient pollutants, and predicting their exposure outcomes directly by their toxicological effect.

Introduction to my instrument "Semi-Automated Multi-Endpoint ROS-activity Analyzer (SAMERA)"


Video abstract for "Spatiotemporal Variability in the Oxidative Potential of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter in Midwestern United States"

Education

June 2016 - May 2022: Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

August 2014 - August 2016: M.S. in Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

September 2009 - June 2013: B.S. in Applied Chemistry, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Publications

1.     Yu, H., Wang, Y., Puthussery, J. V., & Verma, V., 2024. Sources of Acellular Oxidative Potential of Water-soluble Fine Ambient Particulate Matter in the Midwestern United States. Journal of Hazardous Materials. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134763.

2.     Salana, S., Yu, H., Dai, Z., Subramanian, P. G., Puthussery, J. V., Wang, Y., ... & Verma, V., 2024. Inter-continental variability in the relationship of oxidative potential and cytotoxicity with PM2.5 mass. Nature Communications. DOI: doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49649-4.

3.  Zhang, W., Yu, H., Verma, V., and Laskin, A., 2022. Field Evidence for Enhanced Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species in Atmospheric Aerosol Containing Quinoline Components. Atmospheric Sciences. DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.119406. 

4.  Wang, Y., Salana, S., Yu, H., Puthussery, J.V., and Verma, V., 2022. On the Relative Contributions of Iron and Organic Compounds and their Interaction in Cellular Oxidative Potential of Ambient PM2.5. Environmental Science and Technology Letters. DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00316.

5.  Yu, H., Puthussery, J.V., Wang, Y., and Verma, V., 2021. Spatiotemporal Variability in the Oxidative Potential of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter in Midwestern United States. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. DOI: 10.5194/acp-2021-376.

6.  Wang, Y., Puthussery, J.V., Yu, H., Liu, Y., Salana, S., and Verma, V., 2021. Sources of Cellular Oxidative Potential of Water-soluble Fine Ambient Particulate Matter in the Midwestern United States. Journal of Hazardous Materials. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127777.

7.  Zeng, Y., Yu, H., Zhao, H., Stephens, B., & Verma, V., 2021. Influence of Environmental Conditions on the Dithiothreitol (DTT)-based Oxidative Potential of Size-resolved Indoor Particulate Matter of Ambient Origin. Atmospheric Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118429.

8.  Wang, Y., Puthussery, J.V., Yu, H., and Verma, V., 2020. Synergistic and Antagonistic Interactions Among Organic and Metallic Components of the Ambient Particulate Matter (PM) for the Cytotoxicity Measured by Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells. Science of the Total Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139511.

9.  Yu, H., Puthussery, J.V., and Verma, V., 2019. A Semi-automated Multi-endpoint Reactive Oxygen Species Activity Analyzer (SAMERA) for Measuring the Oxidative Potential of ambient PM2.5 aqueous extracts. Aerosol Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2019.1693492.

10.   Wei, J., Yu, H., Wang, Y., and Verma, V., 2018. Complexation of Iron and Copper in Ambient Particulate Matter and Its Effect on the Oxidative Potential Measured in a Surrogate Lung Fluid. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b05731.

11.   Yu, H., Wei, J., Cheng, Y., Subedi, K. and Verma, V., 2018. Synergistic and Antagonistic Interactions among the Particulate Matter Components in generating Reactive Oxygen Species based on the Dithiothreitol Assay. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04261.

12.   Yu, H., Afshar-Mohajer, N., Theodore, A.D., Lednicky, J.A., Fan, Z.H. and Wu, C.Y., 2018. An Efficient Virus Aerosol Sampler Enabled by Adiabatic Expansion. Journal of Aerosol Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2018.01.001.

13.   Xiong, Q., Yu, H., Wang, R., Wei, J., & Verma, V., 2017. Rethinking Dithiothreitol-Based Particulate Matter Oxidative Potential: Measuring Dithiothreitol Consumption versus Reactive Oxygen Species Generation. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b01272.

Conference Presentations

Patents

Honors and Awards

Certificates

Activities in Academia