Professor Bell aims to combine her environmental engineering and public health background to examine the air pollution system from emissions to their health consequences.

Research interests include the statistical analysis of the health impacts of air pollution episodes, meteorological and air quality modeling, and policy implications. The overall aim of her work is to answer scientific questions regarding how air pollution affects health and to perform policy-relevant research that contributes to well-informed decision-making and to greater public understanding of environmental health hazards.

She has led national studies of the links between air pollution and risk of hospitalizations and mortality. Other work includes estimating the exposure-response curve between concentrations and health risks and exploring whether heterogeneity in pollution-health estimates can be explained by differences in socio-economic characteristics. Additional recent and ongoing projects include a study of heat-related mortality in Latin American cities, the impacts of air pollution on low birth weight in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the relationships between the chemical composition of particulate matter and health. Dr. Bell is also interested in the health impacts of climate change; in particular the potential changes in air pollution due to climatic change and the subsequent health impacts. Current and recent research projects are based in the United States, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan.