PhD & Postdoc

Zara Hussain

Air Quality Monitoring · Lahore University of Management Sciences

Zara Hussain deploys and studies the performance of a 45-node low-cost electrochemical sensor network across Lahore's dense urban fabric, creating the first fine-spatial-resolution (500 m grid) map of real-time PM2.5 and NO₂ exposure at Lahore University of Management Sciences' Department of Environmental Science. Supervised by Prof. Sadia Ilyas, she selected and calibrated a AmperEx EC4-SO2/NO₂ and a Sensirion SPS30 PM sensor stack for each node, correcting for the strong humidity and temperature cross-sensitivities that plague all low-cost sensors in Lahore's subtropical climate using a random forest correction model trained against a co-located regulatory-grade reference at the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency's Gulberg monitoring station. After correction, PM2.5 readings from the field network agree with the reference to within 12% RMSE across Lahore's full seasonal PM range of 30–450 µg/m³. Kriging interpolation of the 45-node dataset reveals an urban heat island–driven wind channelling effect that concentrates diesel vehicle exhaust in narrow canyon-street corridors where exposure exceeds WHO 24-hour guidelines by a factor of 9 during morning traffic peaks — invisible to the four-station regulatory network. Zara's role as the Punjab Environment Protection Department's pilot partner for smart-city air quality monitoring directly translates her research into policy-grade infrastructure.

Thesis Topic

Low-Cost Electrochemical Sensor Network for Real-Time PM2.5 and NO₂ Mapping in Lahore's Urban Heat Island

Transition Signals