You’re reading Show and Tell, which highlights communication “wins” from our community. Want more inspiration like this? Subscribe to our Call to Action newsletter. What to see your work here? Tell us about your win.
Who we are: Parham Azimi (left) and Zahra Keshavarz (right), Harvard Chan #HealthyBuildings team.
What we created: An online calculator that helps schools, companies, and other organizations evaluate ventilation rates inside their buildings.
Why it matters: Good communication isn’t just about op-eds and Twitter threads. It’s about innovative ways to translate important research into formats people can understand—and use to make better decisions. We want to help building managers ventilate buildings appropriately to reduce disease transmission, which is especially important as mask use has waned. Our calculator makes it easy for them to see where they might be falling short and how to fix it. It converts data from carbon dioxide sensors into actionable information for improving ventilation and thus indoor air quality.
What we learned: There remains a significant gap between academic research and the needs of those on the ground. The science behind our calculator has been around for decades. But it took a user-friendly and accessible tool like ours for building managers and organizational leaders to start using that science to guide their decisions.
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