Rufus D. Edwards

Picture of Rufus D. Edwards
Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Public Health
Ph.D., Rutgers and UMDNJ, Joint Degree, 1999, Exposure Measurement and Assessment
M.S., Rutgers University, 1995, Environmental Sciences
Phone: (949) 824-4731
Fax: (949) 824-0529
Email: edwardsr@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
Room 1361 Social Ecology II
University of California
Mail Code: 3957
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Air Pollution. Human exposures to air pollution, Indoor air pollution, Paint emissions, Emissions of climate altering pollutant species, Health co-benefits
Academic Distinctions
Dr Edwards was awarded the 2009 Joan M. Daisey Outstanding Young Scientist Award by the International Society of Exposure Science.
Appointments
Post-Doctoral researcher at the Finnish National Institute of Public Health, Kuopio, Finland. Analysis of Air Pollution Exposure Distributions of Adult Populations in Helsinki, as part of a European Union 4th Framework RTD Program funded multi-center study - EXPOLIS. Sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, Finland. (1999 - 2000)

Research Associate with Kirk Smith University of California, Berkeley.
Analysis of emissions form household solid fuel use; Evaluation of the Chinese national improved stove program; Particle monitor development
Research Abstract
Dr Edwards was awarded the 2009 Joan M. Daisey Outstanding Young Scientist Award by the International Society of Exposure Science. Dr. Edwards has over 20 years of experience in conducting laboratory and field based studies into human exposure to air pollution and subsequent health effects. These include populations in the industrialized world exposed to combustion byproducts from transportation, wildfires and tobacco smoke, and populations in less industrialized nations exposed to emissions from household solid fuel use for cooking and space heating. Dr Edwards was a member of the WHO Indoor Air Quality Guidelines Development Group (GDG) to establish air quality guidelines for household combustion sources, and was lead convening author for the evidence chapter on emissions from household solid fuel use, and a lead author for the chapter on models to link household energy use with indoor air quality. Dr Edwards was also consultant to the WHO to develop the Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART) to conduct rapid situational assessments and stakeholder mapping of a country’s readiness to address access to clean energy technologies and has worked with the WHO Urban Health Initiative to identify evidence based strategies to reduce the burden of air pollution in Accra, Ghana, and Katmandu, Nepal. More recently he has served as air pollution consultant to the WHO regional office for South East Asia. Dr Edwards has been a consultant to UNICEF Mongolia, Kosovo, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan to address effects of air pollution from rapid urbanization on children’s health, and as air pollution consultant to the Asia Development Bank and the Swiss Center for International Health.
Publications
31. Chowdhury Z., Edwards R.D., Johnson M., Naumoff Shields K., Allen T., Canuz E., Smith K.R., 2007. An inexpensive light-scattering particle monitor: field validation. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 9 (10), 1099-1106

32. Berrueta, V., Edwards R.D., and Masera O.R., 2008. Energy performance of woodburning cookstoves in Michoacan, Mexico. Renewable Energy 33, 859–870

33. Johnson M.J., Edwards R.D., Alatorre Frenk C., Masera O. 2008. In-field greenhouse gas emissions from cookstoves in rural Mexican households. Atmospheric Environment. 42, 1206–1222

34. Amendariz Arnez C., Edwards R.D., Johnson M.J., Zuk M., Rojas-Bracho L., Serrano P., Riojas-Rodríguez H., Masera O.R., 2008. Reductions in personal exposures and indoor concentrations of PM and CO in rural Mexico as a result of the installation of a Patsari Improved Cook Stove. Indoor Air, 18: 93–105

35. Johnson, M., Edwards, R., Ghilardi, A., Berrueta, V., Gillen, D., Frenk, C.A., Masera, O. 2009. Quantification of Carbon Savings from Improved Biomass Cookstove Projects. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(7), 2456-2462.

36. Allen-Piccolo G., Rogers J.V., Edwards R.D., Clark M.C., Allen T.T., Ruiz-Mercado I, Shields K.N., Canuz E., Smith K.R. 2009. An Ultrasound Personal Locator for Time-Activity Assessment, Internl J Occup and Environ Health, 15 (2): 122-132

37. Edwards R.D. Jantunen M.J. 2009. Subgroups exposed to systematically different elemental compositions of PM2.5. Atmospheric Environment 43 (2009) 3571–3578

38. Smith K.R., McCracken J.P., Thompson L., Edwards R.D., Shields K.N., Canuz E., Bruce N. 2009. Personal Child and Mother Carbon Monoxide Exposures and Kitchen Levels: Methods and Results from a Randomized Trial of Woodfired Chimney Cookstoves in Guatemala (RESPIRE) Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology pp1-11

39. Johnson, M., Edwards, R., Masera, O. Improved stove programs need robust methods to estimate carbon offsets. Climatic Change (2010) 102:641–649

40. Edwards R.D., Lam N.L., Zhang L., Johnson M.A., Kleinman M.T., 2009. NO2 and Ozone as factors in the availability of lead from lead based paints. Environmental Science and Technology 43 (22), pp 8516–8521

41. Cohan A.J., Edwards R.D., Kleinman M.T., Dabdub D., 2009. Potential for Atmospheric Driven Lead Paint Degradation in the South Coast Air Basin of California. Environmental Science and Technology. 43 (23), pp 8881–8887

42. Johnson M.J., Edwards R.D., Berrueta V., Masera O. 2009. New Approaches to Performance Testing of Improved Cook Stoves. Environmental Science and Technology 44, pp368–374

43. Wu J., Edwards R.D., Lejano R., Kleinman M.T., 2010. Spatial Analysis of Soil Lead Concentrations in Los Angeles, California. Environmental Research 110, pp 309–317

44. Armendáriz Arnez C., Edwards R.D., Johnson M.J., Rosas I.A., Espinosa F.J., Masera O.R. 2010. Indoor particle size distributions in homes with open fires and improved Patsari cook stoves in Mexico. Atmospheric Environment 44 2881-2886

45. García-Frapolli E, Berrueta V.M., Riojas-Rodríguez H., Schilmann A., Edwards R.D., Johnson M., Guevara A., Armendariz C., Masera O.R. 2010. Beyond Fuelwood Savings: Valuing the economic benefits of introducing improved biomass cookstoves in the Purhepecha region, Mexico. Ecological Economics 69, pp 2598–2605

46. Mestl H.E.S., Edwards R.D. 2011. Global burden of disease as a result of indoor air pollution in Shaanxi, Hubei and Zhejiang, China. Science of the Total Environment 409 1391–1398

47. Pine K., Edwards R.D., Masera O.R., Schilmann A., Marrón-Mares A., Riojas-Rodríguez H. Adoption and Use of Improved Biomass Stoves in Rural Mexico. Energy for Sustainable Development. June 2011

48. Boarnet M.G., Houston D., Edwards R.D., Princevac M., Ferguson G., Pan H., Bartolome C., 2011. Fine Particulate Concentrations on Sidewalks in Five Southern California Cities Atmospheric Environment 45 pp4025-4033
Graduate Programs
Environmental Health Sciences
Epidemiology
Public Health
Research Centers
AIR UCI
Last updated
10/19/2023