With the Olympics and World Cup nearing, USC graduate strives for cleaner outdoor air for competitors and spectators

From her vantage point in Fairbanks, Alaska, Serena Allen observes the dawn. It’s a wonderful view, the hues amplified by something less favorable: Fairbanks ranks as the third-most polluted area in the United States.

Originally hailing from Palmdale, Allen established AirVitalize to directly tackle air pollution. A third-place awardee in the USC Marshall Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies New Venture Seed Competition (NVSC) in 2024, AirVitalize employs filterless ionization technology to purify outdoor air. The objective — increasingly pertinent after wildfires devastated communities across Los Angeles County — is climate resilience.

Allen achieved a degree from the USC Price School of Public Policy, subsequently enrolling in the “Innovation in Engineering and Design for Global Crises” course at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, which took her and her colleagues to Fairbanks. They conducted interviews with residents, inquiring, “What is your most challenging issue?”

“We discovered that residential wood burning contributes significantly to air pollution,” Allen recounted. “However, simultaneously, people in Fairbanks shared with us that they relied on wood burning for the savings necessary to fund their children’s college education.”

The first resolution created by Allen and her group was a chimney retrofit device. However, after obtaining feedback from residents, mentors, and insurance providers, they recognized that these devices were not a feasible solution.

The team revisited the issue. “We examined our core technology and found that we could apply similar principles to outdoor air filtration,” stated Allen.

The technology is designed to address atmospheric phenomena known as temperature inversions. Rather than using filters, which would contribute to landfill waste and increase energy usage, AirVitalize implements ionization to purify the air.

“Consider what occurs when you rub a balloon against your hair,” Allen explained. “Your hair clings. Particles that are a hundred times smaller than human hair will adhere to the ionized particles in a parallel manner.”

To guarantee that this approach has a net positive effect, AirVitalize intends to utilize solar panels to meet energy requirements in L.A. and create a distinct airflow pattern for the product to enhance the area that can be cleaned.

Guidance and beyond

Locating the appropriate individuals to advance a mission is challenging. Allen assembled her initial team after linking up with four USC Viterbi students at a recruitment event. Collectively, they completed the I-Corps program through the University

“`of Alaska Fairbanks, which assisted in financing their December 2022 journey. Initial funding, like that obtained from the Greif Center Blackstone LaunchPad, NVSC, and the Marshall Catalyst Fund, was predominantly allocated to prototyping and exploration. The NVSC funding has also facilitated AirVitalize’s initial case study.

In addition to funding, guidance played a crucial role. Allen fostered her confidence in fundraising and refined the startup’s business framework. “I believe we adjusted our business model three or four times just by discussing it and receiving feedback during the quarterfinal and semifinal stages of NVSC,” she remarked. “We practiced our final pitch and enhanced it utilizing Greif Blackstone LaunchPad resources, while expanding our connections in the startup ecosystem due to our involvement in the competition.”

The next step involves further fundraising. AirVitalize successfully gathered $190,000 in non-dilutive capital. It is currently working to attract investors while being conscious of their overarching objectives.

“If you’re not anchored in your issue, you’ll struggle to succeed — whether you have VC investment or not,” Allen stated. “Numerous companies secure funding but fail to progress because they focus solely on their solution. That’s what distinguishes AirVitalize. We recognize that air contamination is a significant challenge, but we’re not marketing clean air; we’re promoting the optimism that we can mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution.”

Purifying the great outdoors

The notion of purifying outdoor air can be intimidating, not only in terms of quantity but also due to the ever-changing nature of outdoor air. Altering the entire atmosphere is not AirVitalize’s mission. Instead, AirVitalize intends to concentrate on areas experiencing temperature inversions.

Typically, lower areas are warmer. However, in temperature inversion scenarios, air becomes warmer with elevation. Allen explains that inversions in Los Angeles can reach heights of 1,000 to 2,000 feet, whereas in Fairbanks, they occur at levels between 15 to 200 feet. “This occurs because the base of the valley, encircled by mountains, cools as the air sinks and is confined by a warmer layer.”

These inversions capture pollutants, and as global temperatures increase, they become increasingly frequent.

“We’re a technology aimed at climate resilience,” Allen noted. “It’s quite plausible that the air quality in Los Angeles will revert to what it was in the 1970s and 1980s. We exist so that people can continue to enjoy joyful and healthy moments with their families outdoors, regardless of how the climate evolves.”

In Los Angeles, which will host World Cup matches in 2026 and the Summer Olympics two years later, AirVitalize is focusing on athletics, as stadiums experience highly concentrated temperature inversions. “Being in a stadium is actually one of the unhealthiest outdoor environments in the entire area,” Allen stated. “It also has an impact on athletes. The air quality in which you train and compete can be the difference between winning gold at the Olympics or not even qualifying.”

In Fairbanks, the emphasis is less on outdoor arenas and more on state implementation initiatives mandated by the Clean Air Act. For locations categorized as unhealthy, such as Fairbanks, functional solutions can be expedited and disseminated. Allen hopes AirVitalize will be one such solution.

“This means not only giving positive benefits to the individuals we started with and don’t want to abandon, but also accelerating it to reach everyone across the United States, and, ultimately, the world,” Allen expressed.