The team behind WeatherCube air quality monitors formed a new startup

The team members behind a project to measure air quality through a network of wireless WeatherCubes in Baltimore are now looking to grow the work of gathering local environmental data as a for-profit startup.
The former Johns Hopkins grad students behind the Baltimore Open Air Project are now helming Troposphere Monitoring. The company aims to provide affordable devices to measure environmental pollution. Recently, the company began the Techstars Impact Accelerator in Austin, Texas, as one of 10 companies in the social impact–focused program’s first cohort.
Cofounder Anna Scott, a climate scientist who received her doctorate a few days before the accelerator began, said the company will look to build on its initial work developing and deploying the air quality monitoring devices in Baltimore last year.
The WeatherCubes measure temperature, relative humidity, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. Drawing on water quality monitoring technology developed by cofounder Chris Kelley and designed by cofounder Yan Azdoud, the devices were made using tools at Open Works, and Scott said the group teamed with Civic Works to develop a j0b-training program to assemble the devices. From there, they stationed them at 13 homes and organizations around the area. Even Mr. Trash Wheel got in on the monitoring.

I have some new buddies courtesy of @BmoreOpenAir. These cuties measure temperature, relative humidity, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. pic.twitter.com/QRYTSqFyFl

— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) September 27, 2017

“Right now we’re really encouraged with the results that we’re getting,” Scott said, adding that the monitors that were deployed will remain. The designs and code also remain available.
As a startup, the company is seeking to expand the work of providing environmental data to citizens on a local level with low-cost solutions, and figure out the right market fit. Joining the summer-long accelerator in Austin will help get access to resources, she said. With the startup in an early stage, she said a lot could change and new opportunities could emerge before demo day in August.
“We’re excited to get the mentorship and help we’re going to need to be able to scale,” she said.