Inside the Lab: Dr. Tim Gordon on Building AeroFit

When we embarked on the journey to create AeroFit, we knew that achieving our vision required the expertise of a leading aerosol scientist. Enter Dr. Tim Gordon, a renowned expert with over 20 years of experience in developing scientific instruments for airborne particle characterization. For the past two years, Dr. Gordon has led the development of AeroFit at the OHD Aerosol Lab in Boulder, Colorado, applying his deep knowledge to optimize its performance.

In this installment of the AeroFit Journey blog series, we had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Gordon about his background, his passion for aerosol science, and what it was like bringing AeroFit to life.

What's your background/history with aerosol research?

TG: My aerosol journey began after my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. I was an early employee at a Boston startup developing new porous ceramic diesel particulate filters, which are used to remove the black soot (aerosol) that you’ve probably seen older trucks spewing out.

After helping build the company (the patent portfolio was later licensed to Corning Inc.), I returned to academia, earning a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon’s Engineering and Public Policy Department and the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies. My field research, conducted at the California Air Resources Board’s laboratories, helped explain the transformation of gaseous emissions from vehicles into atmospheric aerosol.

Next, I moved to Boulder, CO to work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where I developed and patented an instrument to measure the amount of sunlight reflected/absorbed by atmospheric aerosols, which has been used to improve understanding of how this phenomenon affects the climate (global warming) and visibility (smog/haze).

Subsequently, at several small companies, I commercialized other aerosol instruments, primarily for the atmospheric research community, and I also served as Principal Investigator on multiple government grants awarded to me to develop new technologies for sampling and detecting SARS-CoV-2 aerosol.

As Director of Aerosol Research and Development at OHD, I lead all science and engineering related to our AeroFit, a condensation nuclei counter-based respirator fit tester.

What have you learned about the use of aerosol in fit testing? Has anything surprised you?

TG: Since joining OHD, I’ve gotten more exposure to the industrial hygiene and occupational health communities. This is leading to ideas for new tools and instruments that I’m interested in developing.

During the pandemic, I, like many aerosol scientists, shifted our professional attention to the role of aerosols in public health. The AeroFit project has been a natural extension of that turn. I expect the AeroFit to be in wide use, ensuring that the respirators our front-line workers wear are protecting them on the job when (not if) we face another pandemic.

What was it like developing AeroFit?

TG: I’ve been fortunate to be part of a stellar team during the AeroFit’s development, but not all my OHD colleagues are aerosol scientists. Thus, it has been fun to occasionally don my academic hat and assume a professorial role. Hunter Strickler, VP of Business Development, (and author of “What’s in a Name?” from our last installment of this series on the AeroFit journey), has been an especially avid pupil and can now give a proper explanation of how a DMA works. Just ask him! Honestly, I do enjoy answering questions from my team, and since people always ask unexpected questions, it keeps me on my toes and inspires me to keep learning.

In addition, there have been certain aspects of the project that have been entirely new to me and fun to learn. For example, I really knew very little about precision micro-injection molding before this project. We were fortunate to find a local vendor who taught me a lot, and from this great partnership we ended up with a superior quality key component in the AeroFit.

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Ready to get a demo of AeroFit? Join us Wednesday, August 28th at 12pm CT to get a demo of AeroFit and learn about some of the new features we're unveiling as we get closer to launch. Register now.