Laura is an astrophysicist pursuing air quality research at the School of Physics, Universidad Industrial de Santander.
RACIMO-Móncora is a citizen science initiative dedicated to establishing science clubs in schools in Bucaramanga. The project aimed at raising awareness on environmental issues by introducing high school students to early scientific research and scientific tools, is divided into two phases: air quality monitoring and analysis this data using coding tools like Python.
The larger vision of this initiative is to establish a comprehensive air quality monitoring system with real-time data accessible to the public and implement an alert system to inform citizens about high pollution levels. They are seeking to expand the low-cost sensor network within Bucaramanga and take this initiative to four other cities in Colombia. This will play a vital role in shaping policies, through the analysis and communication of air quality data, and fostering partnerships.
Country Profile (Colombia): Opportunity Score 4.8: Annual average PM2.5 levels are more than times the WHO guideline. There is public PM2.5 data produced by the government, as well as there is a national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5.