Christina Murata joins RTI International as senior director of Air Quality and Exposure program

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina — Christina Murata, Ph.D., an expert in national security and chemical and biological defense, joined RTI International recently as senior director of the Center for Air Quality and Exposure.

Murata came to RTI from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, where she most recently served as executive advisor for technology and innovation operations support.

“We are excited to have Christina as part of the RTI team,” said Galen Hatfield, RTI’s senior vice president for innovation, technology, and development. “She brings exceptional technical depth and leadership capabilities to our air quality and exposure programs; which continue to solve critical problems facing health and the environment.”

In her 13 years with the federal government, Murata led many projects that helped expand the technological capabilities of security agencies. At the Department of Defense, she built an automatic system to protect the Pentagon from chemical or biological attack—a project that the National Academies of Science described as meeting the “highest standard” of all building protection programs.

Murata has worked in both domestic and international settings. At the State Department, she served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) diplomacy fellow and worked to secure dangerous pathogens and weapons expertise in the former Soviet Union.

RTI has a long history of research in aerosol technology, especially as it relates to human health. Among our breakthroughs are measurement techniques to determine the efficacy of air cleaning devices used in many homes and office buildings and advanced sensor technologies that have enabled researchers to study individual’s exposure to airborne materials.

The Air Quality and Exposure team that Murata leads leverages expertise spanning the physical and biological sciences and engineering. Their focus is on developing scientific breakthroughs in aerosol technology that help to improve life around the globe. Current projects include improving protective gear for the military and first responders and providing new, personal-level, insights into the health effects of airborne contaminants.