Cyprus Harvard Endowment Program for the Environment and Public Health – Student Projects

Azariah Boyd
SM in Environmental Health Epidemiology
Project Title
Relationships between indoor and outdoor PM measurements in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Project Description
The study will utilize Alphasense indoor PM recordings from houses in Nicosia, and examine the correlation with gravimetric measures from indoor Harvard impactors.  The analysis will also incorporate ambient measurements from central locations in Nicosia, Cyprus.


Connor Henderson
SM in Environmental Epidemiology
Project Title
Ambient particle radioactivity during desert dust events in Cyprus.
Project Description
This study will assess the levels of Total Suspended Particles alpha- and beta-radioactivity, and radionuclides (Cs-137, K-40) in Cyprus. The analysis will explore whether TSP radioactivity is different during desert dust events. Preferred statistical software: STATA


Serena Liu
SM in Environmental Epidemiology
Project Title
Association of desert dust storm exposures during the three trimesters of pregnancy with perinatal outcomes in Cyprus.
Project Description
The study will examine the cumulative effect of exposure to desert dust storms during pregnancy on perinatal outcomes (birth weight, prematurity, Apgar score) for the population of Cyprus. The analysis will be conducted using distributed lag models, using software R.


Tianyu Liu
SM in Environmental Health Epidemiology
Project Title
Exploring potential drivers of COVID-19 mortality using a rich dataset of potential pandemic drivers and mortality data from 20+ countries.
Project Description
The study will examine several factors that might have played a role in the spread and health impacts of COVID-19. For this analysis, all-cause weekly mortality between 2015-2021, available for 20+ countries and collaborators of CMOR project will be used (https://www.unic.ac.cy/coronavirus/mortality/ ). The factors that will be examined include, but are not limited to: population, population age distribution, healthcare expenditure, hospital bed density, social development index, death rate from specific cause 2019, behavioral health risk factors prevalence (smoking, obesity), GDP, environmental factors (e.g., temperature, air pollution) etc. Absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression as a variable selection mechanism will be used. Statistical software: STATA, R


Krittika Paul
SM in Environmental Health Risks
Project Title
Acute effects of PM constituents on hospital admissions in Cyprus.
Project Description 
The study will examine the acute effects of PM10 and PM2.5 constituents on hospital admission using daily data from Nicosia, Cyprus. The analysis will explore whether the dust and non-dust PM10 constituents have a different effect on hospital admissions. The analysis will be conducted using a regression analysis adjusting for short- and long-term trends, weather, day of week, and total mass concentration. STATA statistical software will be used for this analysis.


Yichen Wang
SM in Environmental Epidemiology
Project Title
Indoor and outdoor sources of PM2.5 and PM10 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Project Description 
This analysis will utilize the data collected from LIFE-MEDEA intervention study. Specifically, the data includes PM2.5 and PM10 mass, black carbon, brown carbon, and elements collected from participants homes. EPA PMF program will be used for the source apportionment analysis to identify and quantify the sources.


Qinni Yuan
SM in Environmental Health
Project Title
Association between particles beta radiation and hospital admissions in Cyprus.
Project Description
The study will examine the acute effects of exposure to particles (TSP) beta radioactivity and mortality, using daily data from Limassol, Cyprus from 2008 to 2019. The analysis will be conducted using a quasi-Poisson GAM regression model adjusting for short- and long-term trends, weather, day of week, and ambient PM10 levels. R statistical software will be used for this analysis.