Lab Members

Photo of Emma Balevic

Emma Balevic

As a member of both the Hannigan Air Quality Lab and Burleson Global Design Group, my research at the University of Colorado Boulder brings air quality and engineering design together to create positive impacts in both social and environmental areas. My passion for this research is accompanied by a passion for mentorship and teaching. I am always seeking mentors as I enter new phases of life, and I consistently seek...
Photo of Sean Benjamin

Sean Benjamin

Sean is a Mechanical Engineering PhD student. His research concerns investigating the impacts of biomass burning on nearby residential air quality. He returned to graduate school after working in aerospace to pursue methods of combating climate change. His interests include policy, sustainable energy, pollution control, and public health. Outside of CU Sean enjoys running, hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, painting (badly), and reading.
Evan Coffey

Evan Coffey

Evan Coffey joined the Mechanical Engineering research faculty in 2013 after pursuing a background in Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is a member of the Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Laboratory, where over the past 6 years, he has been involved in a variety of air quality focused research collaborations in Colorado, California, the Navajo Nation, Ghana, and Rwanda. His current research interests focus on...
Photo of Gabriela Cortes

Gabriela Cortes

Gabriela is a first-year Ph.D student in Environmental Engineering. From Brazil, she graduated with a degree in Environmental Engineering and has extensive experience working in environmental analysis. Her research focuses on methane emissions from landfills. She loves being outdoors, hiking, running and enjoying the beautiful views of Boulder .
Marissa smiles with a city scape behind her

Marissa Dauner

Marissa is a second year Mechanical Engineering M.S. student. Her research focuses on air quality and volatile organic compound emissions from biomass burning. She graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in the fall of 2022. Her previous research experiences are in shock physics and the use of ethanol and other low carbon fuels in heavy duty engines. Outside of CU she likes running, biking, and hiking.
a headshot of Sascha wrapped in a plaid green shawl

Sascha Fowler

Sascha is a fourth year undergraduate student in Integrated Design Engineering with an emphasis in Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 2025. Sascha has been working with our lab since fall of 2023. Currently, she is a member of the Development Team which she joined in May 2024. She previously worked on the LAS VOCES project under the DLA (Discovery Learners Apprenticeship) Program where she analyzed low-cost sensor data. She is the...
Caroline smiles in front of two pods stacked on a tripod

Caroline Frischmon

Caroline moved from Minnesota to pursue a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at CU. Her research focuses on discerning sources of pollution in vulnerable communities using low-cost sensors. She loves that her work combines many of her interests: environmental justice, community engagement, and lots and lots of data. Caroline enjoys writing about science for the general public and presents workshops for other budding science communicators. She is also an avid mountain...
Annamarie Guth

Annamarie Guth

Annamarie is a third year undergrad in the Environmental Engineering department, graduating in 2022. This summer she is working on low-cost sensor data from Ghana. She is also extremely involved with the Rwanda team of Engineers Without Borders.
Mike

Mike Hannigan

Lab Director
Mike is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at CU and is currently the chair of that department. Mike is also faculty in the CU Environmental Engineering program. He earned his PhD in Environmental Engineering Science at Caltech in 1997 and then did stints at MIT Environmental Health Sciences, CSU Atmospheric Sciences, and DU Chemistry before finally landing at CU. Mike has been teaching engineering core classes like Statics and Measurements...
MiKyla stands smiling on a porch wearing a backpack

MiKyla Harjamaki

MiKyla Harjamaki is a Mechanical Engineering PhD student. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Her research focuses on the source apportionment of VOCs using low-cost sensors.
Jon smiles on top of a mountain in Colorado

Jon Silberstein

Jon Silberstein is a second-year mechanical engineering Ph.D. student. From Virginia, he graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2020 with a BS in physics, with extensive work in circuitry, sensors, and geochemistry. In his free time he likes to run, hike, and ski.
Photo of Percy Smith

Percy Smith

Percy is a first-year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering focusing in Design Education. He is also currently the TA for Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools which facilitates AQIQ & SQIQ programs. Before starting graduate school, Percy graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, a minor in Energy Engineering and certificates from the Herbst and ENLP programs. Over the summer, he started to work on a program that helps undergraduate students...
Izzy stands in front of mountains with hiking poles

Elizabeth Wallace

Elizabeth Wallace is a 4 th year undergraduate student in Environmental Engineering and is pursuing a concurrent Masters in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on air quality. Her current research interests focus on the impacts of energy use and its contribution to community air pollution exposure. Elizabeth recently completed a DLA (Discovery Learning Apprenticeship) designing and piloting a project-based curriculum that leverages the newly developed soil quality monitor “s-pod”, with...