chemistry

Kerri Pratt

Kerri Pratt is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kerri Pratt rather than just read about it. In short: Kerri Pratt is an American chemist and Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her research considers atmospheric chemistry and how it impacts human health.

Key takeaways

Kerri Pratt belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kerri Pratt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kerri Pratt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kerri Pratt is an American chemist and Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her research considers atmospheric chemistry and how it impacts human health. She studies the interactions of atmospheric gases using mass spectrometry based techniques.

Early life and education Pratt was an undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University, where she originally majored in environmental science but eventually switched to chemistry. She moved to the University of California, San Diego for graduate studies, where she worked toward a doctorate in time of flight mass spectrometry. Her doctoral research was supervised by Kimberly Prather. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University.

Research and career Pratt works in atmospheric chemistry. She was appointed to the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2013. She is interested in various chemical reactions that occur in the environment, including those that occur between trace gases, in aqueous solutions and on surfaces. Primary atmospheric particles can originate from natural and human-made sources, which include sea spray, soot and bacteria. These undergo various reactions and can form secondary atmospheric particles, evolving into dynamical chemical mixtures such as aerosols. These particles can take on a variety of different sizes, between 3 nm and 10 μm. Pratt investigates the interactions between trace gases and clouds using mass spectrometry. She is particularly interested in the atmospheric composition of winter environments, for example, in the Polar regions. The Arctic is undergoing a rapid loss of sea ice. Pratt makes use of mass spectrometries to various degrees of sensitivity, for examples aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry (aerosols of 0.07 – 1.6 μm diameter), chemical ionization mass spectrometry (gases at sub parts per trillion) and ambient ion mass spectrometry. These results are combined with one-dimensional modelling to understand how atmospheric compositions as a function of altitude and time. She looks to establish the feedbacks between human-made emissions, aerosols and the Earth to better predict air quality. In 2018, she started a United States Department of Energy project to use single particle mass spectrometry during the Polar night. These measurements were combined with data collected from aerosol samples on the German icebreaker RV Polarstern.

Awards and honors 2014 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award 2018 American Chemical Society James J. Morgan ES&T Lectureship 2018 Eastern Analytical Symposium Young Investigator Award 2018 United States Department of Energy Early Career Award 2018 Analytical Scientist Top 40 under 40 Power List 2020 College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award 2021 American Meteorological Society Henry G. Houghton Award 2021 American Geophysical Union Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award

Selected publications Kerri A. Pratt; Paul J. DeMott; Jeffrey R. French; et al. (17 May 2009). "In situ detection of biological particles in cloud ice-crystals". Nature Geoscience. 2 (6): 398–401. doi:10.1038/ngeo521. ISSN 1752-0894. Wikidata Q58068690. Kerri A. Pratt; Kimberly A Prather (29 March 2011). "Mass spectrometry of atmospheric aerosols--recent developments and applications. Part II: On-line mass spectrometry techniques". Mass Spectrometry Reviews. 31 (1): 17–48. doi:10.1002/mas.20330. ISSN 0277-7037. PMID 21449003. Wikidata Q33449937. Kerri A. Pratt; Kyle D. Custard; Paul B. Shepson; et al. (14 April 2013). "Photochemical production of molecular bromine in Arctic surface snowpacks". Nature Geoscience. 6 (5): 351–356. doi:10.1038/ngeo1779. ISSN 1752-0894. Wikidata Q58654885.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kerri Pratt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kerri Pratt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kerri Pratt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kerri Pratt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kerri Pratt

In research: Kerri Pratt appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kerri Pratt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kerri Pratt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American women chemists, Atmospheric chemists, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kerri Pratt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kerri Pratt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kerri Pratt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kerri Pratt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kerri Pratt in simple terms?

Kerri Pratt is an American chemist and Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her research considers atmospheric chemistry and how it impacts human health.

Why does Kerri Pratt matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kerri Pratt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kerri Pratt.