Robert Nishida, PEng (He/Him)

*URA, research co-op, MASc and PhD positions available

Exposure to fine particulate matter in polluted air is the leading environmental risk factor for premature disease and death on the planet and aerosols represent one of the largest contributors to climate forcing. It is critical to accurately characterize and quantify aerosol particles to reduce their negative effects.

Dr. Nishida's research group focuses on creating and evaluating an array of new sensors to measure aerosols and understand their effects. Key areas include aerosol-fluid dynamics, particle charging and transport in electric fields, and low-cost, networked sensors for fine and ultrafine particles. In his group, innovations arise by applying comprehensive physical models created in-house and validating them with detailed experiments. The research is applied to regulate emissions, improve air quality, and empower individuals to take action with real-time air quality data.

Dr Nishida is CEO and Co-Founder of Atmose Ltd. (http://Atmose.ca), which develops aerosol sensors and equipment. Prior to joining UW, as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta, Dr. Nishida reported rates of viral emissions in bioaerosols from COVID-19 patients and the first comprehensive characterization of marijuana smoke particles. Dr. Nishida completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, winning the UK Aerosol Society Doctoral Thesis Prize for outstanding aerosol-related research. He leads openAerosol (http://openaerosol.sourceforge.io), a platform for developing and sharing OpenFOAM models which include the motion of the air and the dynamic behaviour of the particles carried in it.

• Aerosols, Ultrafine Particles, Aerosol Charging, Aerosol Characterization, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Transport Phenomena, Reacting Flows, Particle Transport, Particulate Matter, Emissions Measurement, Smoke

• 2019, Doctorate, Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK

• 2013, Master's, Mechanical Engineering, Queen's University, Canada

• 2011, Bachelor's, Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, Canada

• [selected]

• 2019 Doctoral Thesis Prize, UK Aerosol Society

• 2019 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship

• 2017 NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships – Doctoral 2, Scholarship

• 2016 C.N. Davies Award, UK Aerosol Society

• 2016 Acorn Postgraduate Research Award, Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, University of Cambridge

• 2015 Postgraduate Scholarship, Cambridge Trust, University of Cambridge

• American Association for Aerosol Research, (AAAR)

• Canadian Association for Aerosol Research, (CAAR-ACRA)

• Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, (APEGA)

• ME 250 - Thermodynamics 1
  • Taught in 2025
• MTE 309 - Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
  • Taught in 2024, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• *Corr, **Co-First Author

• *Nishida, R.T., Johnson, T.J., & Olfert, J.S. (2025). "On the three charge regimes of bipolar charge conditioners." Aerosol Science and Technology, 59(5), 499–520.

• Woo, M., Schriefl, M.A., Knoll, M., Boies, A.M., Stettler, M.E.J., Hochgreb, S., and *Nishida, R.T. (2022) “Open-source modelling of aerosol dynamics and computational fluid dynamics: bipolar and unipolar diffusion charging and photoelectric charging” Computer Physics Communications, 278, 108399

• Johnson, T.J., *Nishida, R.T., Sonpar, A.P., Lin, Y-C.J., Watson, K.A., Smith, S.W., Conly, J.M., Evans, D.H. and Olfert, J.S.*, (2022) “Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in droplets and bioaerosols directly captured during breathing, speaking and coughing” Scientific Reports, 12, 3484

• *Johnson, T.J., Nishida, R.T., Zhang, X., Symonds, J., Olfert, J.S., Boies, A.M., (2021) “Generating an aerosol of homogeneous, non-spherical particles and measuring their bipolar charge distribution” Journal of Aerosol Science, 153, 105705

• **Graves, B.M., **Johnson, T.J., *,**Nishida, R.T., Dias, R.P., Savareear, B., Harynuk, J.J., Kazemimanesh, M., Olfert, J.S., *Boies, A.M., (2020) “Comprehensive characterization of marijuana and tobacco smoke” Scientific Reports, 10, 7160

• *Nishida, R.T., Johnson, T.J., Hassim, J., Graves, B.M., Boies, A.M., Hochgreb, S. (2020) “A simple method for measuring fine-to-ultrafine aerosols using bipolar charge equilibrium” ACS Sensors, 5(2), 447-453

• *Johnson, T.J., Nishida, R.T., Irwin, M., Symonds, J., Olfert, J.S., Boies, A.M., (2020) “Measuring the bipolar charge distribution of nanoparticles: review of methodologies and development using the aerodynamic aerosol classifier” Journal of Aerosol Science, 143, 105526

• *Schriefl, M.A., Nishida, R.T., Knoll, M., Boies, A.M., Bergmann, A. (2020) “Characterization of particle number counters based on pulsed-mode diffusion charging” Aerosol Science and Technology, 54(7), 772-789

• *Nishida, R.T., Boies, A.M., Hochgreb, S. (2017) “Modelling of direct ultraviolet photoionization and charge recombination of aerosol particles in continuous flow” Journal of Applied Physics, 121(2), 023104

• Nishida, R. and Johnson, T. “Apparatus and Methods for Charge Conditioning”, GB GB2303960.5 filed: March 17, 2023.; International Application No. PCT/GB2024/050721

• Nishida, R., Johnson, T., Hochgreb, S., Boies, A. “Particle sensor and sensing method”, GB 1911091.5 filed: August 2, 2019, GB 1919455.4 filed: Dec 31, 2019.; Publication Number WO/2021/023972, International Application No. PCT/GB2020/051820

• Nishida, R., Hochgreb, S., Boies, A., US Patent 10,502,710, “Particulate matter measurement apparatus and method” filed June 6, 2016, and Issued (US): Dec. 10, 2019; Application Nos.: GB201609868A; EP3255407A1