Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Sriya Kotta ’26
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
PROJECT TITLE
Fine Spatio-temporal
Variation in Intra-urban
Heat Stress in U.S. Cities;
Relevance of Polluting
Fuel Used in Informal
Eateries in Indian Cities
ORGANIZATION(S)
Urban Nexus Lab,
Department of Civil
and Environmental
Engineering, Princeton
University
LOCATION(S)
Princeton, New Jersey;
Minneapolis, Minnesota
MENTOR(S)
Anu Ramaswami,
Sanjay Swani ’87
Professor of India
Studies, Professor of Civil
and Environmental
Engineering, Princeton
Institute for International
and Regional Studies and
the High Meadows
Environmental Institute
I worked on two projects within the Urban
Nexus Lab, whose overall goal is to advance
sustainable, healthy and equitable cities through
knowledge co-production and nexus modeling
of key transboundary infrastructure and food
systems. In the first project, I investigated
intra-urban heat stress by analyzing data from
PurpleAir sensors in Minneapolis. During a field
trip to the city, I visited several sensor sites in
order to calibrate the PurpleAir sensors with
other sensors used in the lab. We discovered
that the sensors need a new correction factor
and are now working to develop this. We also
devised a methodology for fine-scale heat stress
measurement in other cities. In the second
project, I studied emissions from the informal
food sector in Surat, Gujarat. This oftenoverlooked
sector may contribute significantly
to the country’s emissions and air pollution.
To quantify this, I compared the informal food
sector, household cooking and other industries
by analyzing national datasets like the Socio
Economic and Caste Census and the Economic
Census datasets. Working with the Urban Nexus
Lab was an enriching experience as it allowed
me to connect with exceptional researchers and
professionals and gain valuable insights into
urban sustainability.
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
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