"We saw that nearly 20 percent of schools are located within a quarter-mile of a major road in America," Gingrich says.
What does the air students breathe have to do with how well they learn?
That's the question Dordt University undergraduate students Cameron Grimes and Daniel Garcia have spent the summer investigating alongside Dr. Jonathan Gingrich, assistant professor of engineering, and Dr. Joshua Hollinger, associate professor of economics.
Funded by the Kielstra Center for Research and Scholarship, the interdisciplinary research project is examining whether exposure to air pollution is associated with differences in student achievement across the United States. By combining nationwide air quality data with school performance and demographic data, the research team hopes to better understand how environmental conditions may influence educational outcomes.
The project brings together engineering, economics, environmental science, education, and statistics to answer a question that neither discipline could address alone.
Throughout the summer, Grimes and Garcia have assembled and analyzed large national datasets measuring pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter alongside standardized test scores and demographic information. They've also mapped pollution sources, examined how close schools are to highways and industrial sites, and used statistical modeling to investigate how air quality relates to academic performance while accounting for factors such as poverty and race.
"Working with hundreds of thousands of lines of data has been one of the biggest tasks," Garcia says. "We learned some of those skills in class, but not at that scale."
For both students, the experience has been markedly different from a typical classroom assignment.
"We don't have a straight path that we need to follow," Garcia says. "It's a big shift from the classroom, where we're chasing a grade. Here, we have to find those interesting things."
Grimes says the project has changed the way he thinks about research.
"There's no one right answer," Grimes says. "We're just trying to find what's the best answer—what tells the story of the data best.”
The topic also carries personal significance for Garcia, who grew up in Honduras.
"I was exposed to a lot of air pollution growing up," Garcia says. "I had never even thought about having a relationship between air pollution and cognitive function, so I was interested to see if there actually was one."
Hollinger says the project grew out of conversations he and Gingrich had about combining their areas of expertise while creating meaningful research opportunities for undergraduate students.
"Jonathan Gingrich and I had been talking about air quality and test scores and a way we could combine our different fields of study in a project we could invite undergraduate students to be a part of," Hollinger says. "Our goal was to quantify disparities in air quality across schools and provide some insight into how much that might matter for students, especially those who are otherwise disadvantaged and marginalized."
Although the research is ongoing, the team has already identified several noteworthy trends.
"We saw that nearly 20 percent of schools are located within a quarter-mile of a major road in America," Gingrich says. "We also have seen that air pollution does have associations with lower levels of test performance, even when controlling for other variables such as free and reduced lunch and race."
Hollinger says Grimes and Garcia have played an important role in moving the research forward.
"Our students have done a great job putting together datasets and maps to show what air quality looks like for schools across the country, what sources of pollution might be causing poorer air quality, and then using statistics to estimate how air quality relates to test scores," Hollinger says.
Gingrich and Hollinger hope the research contributes to conversations about creating environments where every student has the opportunity to thrive.
"If we care about other people, especially 'the least of these,' then we should care about air pollution," Hollinger says. "If schooling is supposed to provide opportunity to all, then we should be concerned if the most disadvantaged students are also burdened with poorer air quality in ways that harm their health, cognitive skills, and academic success."
Gingrich hopes the research also encourages communities to think more intentionally about where schools are built.
"There are a lot of factors that determine how much a child can succeed," Gingrich says. "Air pollution could be a variable that is often overlooked but could signal whether a child has the environment necessary to achieve their full potential. As we think about where we place our centers of education, it looks like it would be worth considering locating them not just on the cheapest accessible land, but in areas that protect children from known air pollution sources."
The research team plans to continue analyzing the data throughout the summer and hopes to publish its findings as it continues exploring how environmental conditions shape educational opportunity.
About Dordt University
As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, alumni, and the broader community to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life.
Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt offers undergraduate and graduate programs that help students live their faith in every area of life. Through rigorous learning, meaningful relationships, and whole-person formation, students gain the practical wisdom to serve God and neighbor through their work and in their communities. Dordt has been named among the nation's leading Christian universities by U.S. News & World Report, Niche, and other national publications.
Students in Dordt University’s music department participated in international tours that combined performance, cultural experiences, and hands-on learning in historically significant settings across Europe.
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