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Britt Holmén

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Britt Holmén
NationalityAmerican
OccupationProfessor of Engineering
EmployerUniversity of Vermont
Known forResearch on vehicle emissions, particulate matter, and biodiesel combustion

Britt Holmén is a professor at the University of Vermont whose research addresses the environmental and health impacts of vehicle emissions, with particular attention to particulate matter generated by diesel and biodiesel combustion. Over the course of her academic career, she has built a body of work spanning engineering, atmospheric chemistry, and toxicology, examining how fuel composition, engine technology, and vehicle operating conditions influence pollutant formation and its downstream biological effects.[1] Her publication record includes 109 papers that have collectively been cited more than 1,500 times, and her work has an h-index of 20 according to citation databases.[2]

Education

Details of Britt Holmén's undergraduate and graduate education are not fully documented in publicly available bibliographic records, though her academic training encompasses engineering and environmental science disciplines that underlie her later research into combustion emissions and air quality.[3] Her scholarly output demonstrates expertise spanning mechanical and chemical engineering principles related to internal combustion engines, as well as analytical chemistry techniques used in the characterization of particulate matter and organic compounds.[4]

Career

Britt Holmén holds a faculty position at the University of Vermont (UVM), where she has conducted research within the university's engineering programs.[5] Her work at UVM has centered on the intersection of transportation engineering and environmental health, an area that requires collaboration across engineering, chemistry, and biological sciences.[6]

Throughout her career, Holmén has directed studies funded and structured around real-world vehicle testing, engine dynamometer experiments, and animal model studies designed to link tailpipe emissions to measurable biological outcomes.[7] This research trajectory reflects a sustained institutional commitment at UVM to interdisciplinary environmental engineering research, with Holmén serving as a principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous projects examining fuel and vehicle technology effects on air pollutant emissions.[8]

Her career has also involved work on unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) for environmental data collection, indicating a broadening of her research portfolio beyond traditional tailpipe emissions testing into remote sensing and integrated environmental monitoring approaches.[9]

Research

Britt Holmén's research program is organized around several interconnected themes: the chemical characterization of particulate matter from diesel and biodiesel combustion, the comparative environmental and toxicological effects of petrodiesel versus biodiesel fuels, and the emissions behavior of hybrid-electric vehicles under real-world driving conditions.

Biodiesel and Petrodiesel Particulate Matter

A substantial portion of Holmén's published work concerns the chemical composition and toxicological potential of particulate matter emitted from light-duty diesel engines running on various biodiesel blends. In a 2019 study published in Energy & Fuels, Holmén and collaborators examined how fuel composition, specifically biodiesel blends derived from different feedstocks, affects the formation of carbonyls and quinones in particulate matter, compounds of interest because of their potential contributions to oxidative stress in biological systems.[10]

Related work published in 2017 examined reactive oxidative species and speciated particulate emissions from diesel and biodiesel fuel blends, providing detailed comparative data on how different fuel formulations influence the oxidative potential of exhaust particulate matter.[11] This line of inquiry extended into atmospheric chemistry with a 2018 study on heterogeneous ozonation reactions involving polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and fatty acid methyl esters present in biodiesel particulate matter, work that has accumulated 19 citations and addresses how atmospheric aging processes can transform the chemical character of biodiesel exhaust particles after emission.[12]

Toxicological and Metabolic Effects

Holmén's research has increasingly incorporated biological and toxicological endpoints to assess the health relevance of combustion-derived particulate matter. A 2017 paper in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety compared the metabolic impact of ultrafine particles from petrodiesel and biodiesel combustion using targeted HPLC-MS/MS metabolic profiling techniques applied to bacterial systems, offering insight into how different fuel-derived particulates might perturb microbial metabolism.[13]

This work expanded into mammalian model systems in subsequent years. A 2021 study published in Scientific Reports investigated how ultrafine particles altered gut microbial populations and metabolic profiles in a sex-specific manner using an obese mouse model, a study that has been cited four times and contributes to understanding the interaction between environmental pollutant exposure, metabolic disease, and the gut microbiome.[14] Building on this direction, a 2023 paper published in Chemosphere examined sex-specific metabolic adaptations resulting from in utero exposure to particulate matter derived from the combustion of petrodiesel and biodiesel fuels, a study cited five times that addresses developmental exposure risks and highlights sex as a biological variable in environmental toxicology research.[15]

Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Emissions

Alongside her fuel chemistry and toxicology work, Holmén has contributed methodological advances in the measurement and modeling of hybrid-electric vehicle emissions. In 2020, she co-authored a paper in Science of the Total Environment examining hybrid-electric passenger car energy utilization and emissions in relation to real-world driving conditions, with specific attention to how road grade affects vehicle energy consumption and emissions output. This paper has been cited 23 times, making it among her more heavily cited works.[16]

That same year, Holmén and collaborators introduced the Instantaneous Hybridization Factor (IHF), a new metric developed to more accurately model hybrid-electric vehicle emissions using real-world, on-board data collection methods. This methodological contribution was presented in two related 2020 and 2021 publications addressing the development and application of the IHF metric for energy-emissions analyses of hybrid-electric vehicles.[17][18]

Environmental Monitoring Technologies

Holmén's 2019 work on integrative small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) data collection for food-energy-water governance reflects an expansion of her research interests into environmental monitoring technologies that support integrated resource management decisions, connecting her emissions and air quality expertise to broader questions of environmental governance and sustainability.[19]

Recognition

Britt Holmén's research has been cited extensively within the scientific literature, with her cumulative body of work accumulating 1,593 citations and an h-index of 20 as measured by Semantic Scholar metrics.[20] Her 2020 paper on hybrid-electric vehicle emissions and road grade, cited 23 times, and her 2018 paper on heterogeneous ozonation of biodiesel particulate matter, cited 19 times, represent two of her most cited contributions to the field.[21][22]

Publications

  • Holmén, B. et al. "Sex-specific Metabolic Adaptations from in Utero Exposure to Particulate Matter Derived from Combustion of Petrodiesel and Biodiesel Fuels." Chemosphere (2023).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Ultrafine particles altered gut microbial population and metabolic profiles in a sex-specific manner in an obese mouse model." Scientific Reports (2021).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Instantaneous Hybridization Factor: New Metric to More Accurately Model Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Emissions." (2021).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Hybrid-electric passenger car energy utilization and emissions: Relationships for real-world driving conditions that account for road grade." Science of the Total Environment (2020).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Instantaneous Hybridization Factor (IHF) Development for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Energy-Emissions Analyses Using Real-World, On-Board Data." (2020).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Integrative sUAS Data Collection for Food-Energy-Water Governance." (2019).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Fuel Composition Effects on Carbonyls and Quinones in Particulate Matter from a Light-Duty Diesel Engine Running Biodiesel Blends from Two Feedstocks." Energy & Fuels (2019).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Heterogeneous ozonation reactions of PAHs and fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel particulate matter." (2018).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Comparing the impact of ultrafine particles from petrodiesel and biodiesel combustion to bacterial metabolism by targeted HPLC-MS/MS metabolic profiling." Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2017).
  • Holmén, B. et al. "Reactive Oxidative Species and Speciated Particulate Light-Duty Engine Emissions from Diesel and Biodiesel Fuel Blends." (2017).
  1. ↑ Semantic Scholar author profile for Britt Holmén, University of Vermont.
  2. ↑ Semantic Scholar citation metrics for Britt Holmén.
  3. ↑ Semantic Scholar author profile for Britt Holmén, University of Vermont.
  4. ↑ Publications by Britt Holmén indexed in Semantic Scholar, 2017 to 2023.
  5. ↑ University of Vermont faculty affiliation, as reflected in author metadata across multiple publications.
  6. ↑ Semantic Scholar publication list for Britt Holmén.
  7. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Hybrid-electric passenger car energy utilization and emissions: Relationships for real-world driving conditions that account for road grade." Science of the Total Environment (2020).
  8. ↑ Semantic Scholar author profile for Britt Holmén, University of Vermont.
  9. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Integrative sUAS Data Collection for Food-Energy-Water Governance." (2019).
  10. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Fuel Composition Effects on Carbonyls and Quinones in Particulate Matter from a Light-Duty Diesel Engine Running Biodiesel Blends from Two Feedstocks." Energy & Fuels (2019).
  11. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Reactive Oxidative Species and Speciated Particulate Light-Duty Engine Emissions from Diesel and Biodiesel Fuel Blends." (2017).
  12. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Heterogeneous ozonation reactions of PAHs and fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel particulate matter." (2018).
  13. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Comparing the impact of ultrafine particles from petrodiesel and biodiesel combustion to bacterial metabolism by targeted HPLC-MS/MS metabolic profiling." Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2017).
  14. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Ultrafine particles altered gut microbial population and metabolic profiles in a sex-specific manner in an obese mouse model." Scientific Reports (2021).
  15. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Sex-specific Metabolic Adaptations from in Utero Exposure to Particulate Matter Derived from Combustion of Petrodiesel and Biodiesel Fuels." Chemosphere (2023).
  16. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Hybrid-electric passenger car energy utilization and emissions: Relationships for real-world driving conditions that account for road grade." Science of the Total Environment (2020).
  17. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Instantaneous Hybridization Factor (IHF) Development for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Energy-Emissions Analyses Using Real-World, On-Board Data." (2020).
  18. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Instantaneous Hybridization Factor: New Metric to More Accurately Model Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Emissions." (2021).
  19. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Integrative sUAS Data Collection for Food-Energy-Water Governance." (2019).
  20. ↑ Semantic Scholar citation metrics for Britt Holmén.
  21. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Hybrid-electric passenger car energy utilization and emissions: Relationships for real-world driving conditions that account for road grade." Science of the Total Environment (2020).
  22. ↑ Holmén, B. et al. "Heterogeneous ozonation reactions of PAHs and fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel particulate matter." (2018).

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