5/01/25: Wearable Air Curtain Featured on Spanish Language TV Show El Hormiguero. Prof. Clack and his startup company Taza Aya were featured on the Spanish language show El Hormiguero. See a clip of the segment here. 
4/22/25: Ph.D. Candidate Zhenyu Ma awarded Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship. Graduate student Zhenyu Ma was recognized by the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan in a ceremony and reception. Ma was nominated for work contributing to his dissertation, entitled “Inactivating Airborne Viruses: A Study on Non-Thermal Plasma Inactivation of Viral Aerosols and Its Characteristics”. 
4/21/25: Federal Respiratory Protection Oversight and Research Hobbled with NIOSH furloughs. NIOSH, the federal agency under CDC responsible for worker health and occupational safety generally – and respiratory protection specifically – suffered devastating budget and staffing cuts earlier this spring, essentially shutting down all related activities including testing and certification of N95 respirators and other respiratory protection. After weeks of ardent, outspoken lobbying – particularly by firefighters and congressional representatives in coal-producing states where coal miner health is closely tied to respiratory protection – several hundred NIOSH staff have been called back to work temporarily. Read about the impact of the cuts here, and about the ongoing lawsuits to reinstate NIOSH staff here.
3/19/25: UM College of Engineering Magazine 5-Year Pandemic Retrospective Features Plasma-Enabled Wearable Air Curtain Tech. In a retrospective article on the 5-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan Engineering News featured the wearable air curtain device being developed by Taza Aya, an Ann Arbor startup company founded by Prof. Clack.
8/6/24: Variable ventilation study of influenza transmission between ferrets published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Clack Lab associates are involved in the MITIGATE FLU multidisciplinary investigation into the mechanisms of influenza transmission and strategies for prevention. A MITIGATE FLU study recently published in PNAS found virtually no impact of increased ventilation on the rates of influenza transmission among freely interacting ferrets. Access the full article here.
7/9/24: “Invisible Mask” prototype highlights the advantages of non-thermal plasmas for protecting against airborne infectious disease transmission. Recent articles in the press such as U.S. News & World Report have publicized the innovative prototype device for providing individual respiratory protection that features a non-thermal plasma process for neutralizing airborne viruses. The technology was developed in Clack Lab and a UM-affiliated startup, Taza Aya, has a license on the IP. See the YouTube video here.
5/31/24: New experimental results examine non-thermal plasmas used in animal agriculture contexts. In a new article published in Science of the Total Environment, researchers Z. Ma, A.K. Dwivedi, and H.L. Clack experimentally document the extent to which air containing trace odorous gases — such as in the environment typically found around livestock — can diminish the effectiveness of non-thermal plasmas for inactivating viral aerosols in flowing airstreams. Read the article here.
12/29/23: Newly released study finds ventilation has no impact on influenza transmission among ferrets. Clack Lab contributed to a new study of how high and low levels of air exchange influence the transmission of influenza among groups of freely interacting ferrets. Despite a 10-times increase in air changes per hour, the study found no reduction in transmission of influenza from infected ferrets to naive ferrets. Read the article here.
12/15/22: American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) releases document on preventing the spread of airborne illnesses. Their stance recommends that ensuring the breathing zone of humans is safe is the most effective form of risk mitigation. Read the position paper here.
11/23/22: World Health Organization (WHO) departing chief scientist regrets errors in the debate over whether SARS-CoV-2 spreads through the air. Read the interview here
9/15/22: Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in bioaerosol or non-thermal plasma research. Check Job Openings Page
8/30/22: Zhenyu Ma receives best paper / presentation award at the recent joint meeting of the International Symposium on Non-Thermal/Thermal Plasma for Pollution Control Technology and Sustainable Energy in Japan
5/01/2019: New study gains traction in scientific community. Altmetric score in top 5% of all research outputs.
5/10/2019: New study entitled “Inactivation of Airborne Viruses Using a Packed Bed Non-thermal Plasma Reactor” covered in 18 news media outlets so far.
- Pilot-scale prototype non-thermal plasma reactor testing on Barton Farm, MI. Pictures can be found here.
- Pork and Poultry Producers Wanted! Give insight into your needs for preventing airborne transmission of animal diseases.
- First demonstration of NTP inactivation of airborne virus relevant to agriculture! (Poster presented in N.A. PRRS Symposium)
- 12/31/2017: Student Tian Xia presents at 2017 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD) in Chicago.
- 10/25/2017: Student Tian Xia presents at 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- 6/15/2017: Student Tian Xia presents at 2017 AWMA Conference in Pittsburgh.
- UMich/UMinn collaboration funded by National Pork Board to study inactivation of airborne virus that causes Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).
- Professor Herek Clack attended the Triennial Int’l Conference on Electrostatic Precipitation (ICESP) 2016 in Wroclaw, Poland.
!!Mercury Emissions from Coal is addressed by UNEP!!
Watch the video here!
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- 11/11/2015: 13th Int’l ASAAQ Conference Professor Herek Clack attends 13th Conference on Atmospheric Science and Applications to Air Quality. Follow the link for more information!
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- 7/30/2015 Lab Members Explain Research. Listen to current lab members Abby & Bakari talk about their summer research experience with SURE/SROP 2015: UV Disinfection of Airborne Viruses.
5/15/2015 Professor Clack Featured in The University Record
Professor Clack is featured in an article in The University Record, which includes a video where he discusses mercury emissions and the technology to help keep harmful mercury from being released.
5/1/2015 Fareed Zakaria GPS segment on “big data” research concluding air quality is a leading cause of death and poor health
Watch the video here! (Starting at minute mark 2:55)