Xu receives AAAR Whitby Award
Lu Xu won the 2026 Kenneth T. Whitby Award from the American Association for Aerosol Research
Lu Xu, assistant professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the 2026 American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Kenneth T. Whitby Award.
The honor recognizes Xu’s outstanding technical contributions to aerosol science and technology, which have transformed the understanding of the impacts of biogenic and wildfire aerosols, as well as ozone chemistry, on air quality and climate, and advanced instrumentation development.
Xu’s research interests are in air quality and climate change. He has investigated the atmospheric chemistry of organic compounds from diverse sources and the subsequent impacts on air quality, human health and climate. He also developed analytical methods based on mass spectrometry to characterize the complex atmospheric composition. His research involves laboratory studies, field measurements and instrument development.
Xu joined McKelvey Engineering in 2023 from the Chemical Science Laboratory at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where he was a research scientist. Previously, he was a postdoctoral scholar, then staff scientist for the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at California Institute of Technology.
The award memorializes Kenneth T. Whitby, known for his contributions to aerosol measurement, the study of aerosol properties and behavior and the nature of atmospheric aerosols. Past recipients from the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering include Jian Wang, professor and director of the Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering (CASE), and Rajan Chakrabarty, the Harold D. Jolley Professor of Engineering.
