The Center brings together field research, affordable solutions, environmental monitoring, data modeling, and strong community partnerships. Our goal is to create practical tools and evidence that schools and communities can easily use to improve children’s health.

We work to better understand the environments children experience every day—both inside classrooms and outdoors. By combining real-world measurements with advanced data models, we can identify and predict conditions that affect children’s health.

We are also developing a Children’s Health and Social (CHS) Vulnerability Index to help communities identify where support is most needed and make better, place-based decisions. At the same time, we actively engage with educators, families, community partners, and policymakers to ensure our research leads to real-world improvements. Our Center also supports collaboration across disciplines to strengthen research and train future professionals.

Our work focuses on Five main objectives. First, we aim to better understand how environmental factors affect children’s health and school attendance by measuring both chemical stressors (such as air pollution and bioaerosols) and non-chemical stressors (such as heat exposure and social conditions), using a combination of data analysis and real-world insights from families. 

Second, we evaluate practical and affordable interventions, including portable air purifiers and a three-level school-based health education program, to understand their impact on reducing illness-related absences. 

Third, we leverage data and technology by deploying low-cost indoor sensors, integrating environmental data (e.g., EPA and Mesonet), and using advanced modeling and machine learning to predict indoor conditions and exposures. 

Fourth, we develop a Children’s Health & Social (CHS) Vulnerability Index by combining multiple data sources and incorporating stakeholder input to create a reliable, actionable tool for communities.

Last, we maintain strong leadership and coordination, ensure continuous evaluation and improvement, and promote effective communication and outreach so that our research can be widely adopted by schools and communities