Britt Holmén, Ph.D.

Dr. Britt A. Holmén has over 20 years of experience measuring nonpoint air pollutant emissions from transportation and agricultural sources. She currently directs the Transportation Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ Lab) at the University of Vermont where research on ultrafine particle and gas-phase exhaust emissions from vehicles/engines is conducted to elucidate their effects on human and environmental health. She designed the TOTEMS (Total On-Board Tailpipe Emissions Measurement System) setup to quantify real-world vehicle tailpipe emissions while driving and has pioneered efforts to quantify particle number emissions from alternative vehicles using these techniques. The TAQ Lab research foci include real-world hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) and biodiesel fuel effects on tailpipe emissions of particles and air toxic gases.  In 2018, Dr. Holmén co-founded the Biogas Collaborative Working Group (BCWG) with a mission to measure and educate the public around fugitive biogas emissions and climate change.

Prior to joining UVM in August 2006, Dr. Holmén was on the Civil & Environmental Engineering faculty at the University of Connecticut for five years where she conducted research on real-world hybrid transit bus particle emissions as well as fugitive emissions from agriculture sources. Her past appointments include research and adjunct faculty positions at the University of California Davis, where her interests in air pollution and vehicle emissions research evolved beyond her academic training in water/solid interfacial chemistry.