# Learning and Living with Wildfire Smoke: Creating Clean Air Environments in Schools through Youth Participatory Action Research

> **NIH NIH K99** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2024 · $102,017

## Abstract

Project Summary
This proposal seeks to engage high-school aged youth in establishing schools as clean air environments
during and beyond wildfire season. This training and research plan will build upon Dr. D’Evelyn’s expertise in
air pollution toxicology and community based participatory research (CBPR) and prepare her for a career in
environmental health science and implementation science at the nexus of climate, health, and community
action. During the K99 mentored phase, Dr. D’Evelyn will utilize the expertise from her thoughtfully assembled
mentorship team and course-based learning to gain training in: 1) best practices in CBPR and Youth
Participatory Action Research (YPAR); 2) qualitative methodology, implementation science and evaluation; and
3) exposure science to address health equity questions in a community setting. This training will provide Dr.
D’Evelyn with interdisciplinary skills as she moves toward an academic career in independent research. Over
the course of the K99 phase, Dr. D’Evelyn will expand air quality knowledge in schools through implementation
of an air quality curriculum and a youth-led air quality monitoring network. Aim 1 will establish a permanent
monitoring network in the school community which will enable students to collect, analyze and disseminate
information about their school’s air quality with the goal of increasing education and awareness of the health
impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke. This work will build upon Dr. D’Evelyn’s previous experience working
with high school students and will enable her to translate her expertise in air pollution toxicology into an
understandable, place-based curriculum to improve awareness and student self-efficacy in smoke-impacted
communities. Educational and behavioral outcomes from this aim will be measured through observations and a
pre/post survey given to students and teachers to evaluate the impact of their involvement in the project. Upon
completion of the K99 phase of this award, Dr. D’Evelyn will move into the R00 phase in which she will
complete Aims 2 & 3 that will transition her to an independent researcher. The R00 phase will focus on air
quality interventions, implementation science, and evaluation. In Aim 2, Dr. D’Evelyn will continue to foster
youth engagement through co-development of an intervention plan that will address the specific exposure
concerns of each school community. She will then work with students and school administrators to support
implementation of this plan, utilizing the new implementation science skills and knowledge she gained during
the training phase. Aim 3 will conclude this independent phase with a full evaluation of the effectiveness of a
YPAR project to: 1) reduce exposure to wildfire smoke and other airborne pollutants; and 2) improve
community health and health equity in schools impacted by wildfire smoke. This project will describe the impact
of a YPAR-based environmental health intervention and implementation program, and wo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10831529
- **Project number:** 5K99ES034442-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Savannah M D'Evelyn
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $102,017
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-21 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10831529

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10831529, Learning and Living with Wildfire Smoke: Creating Clean Air Environments in Schools through Youth Participatory Action Research (5K99ES034442-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10831529. Licensed CC0.

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