Star formation at the outer extremities of the Milky Way takes place under conditions much different from those in the rest of the Galaxy, giving us a window into how the process differs in a low-density, low-metallicity region. The Outer Scutum-Centaurus (OSC) spiral arm is the most distant molecular spiral arm in the Galaxy, lying about 15 kpc from the center of the Galaxy. In this study, we use the VLA radio array to observe 12 HII regions in the OSC, all of which had no previously existing continuum data. HII regions are areas of ionized hydrogen around massive stars and are the brightest objects in the radio spectrum across the Milky Way, making them perfect laboratories to study star formation in the outer Galaxy. These OSC HII regions represent the most distant known high-mass star formation regions in the Milky Way and give us an excellent laboratory for studying those processes in a low-density, low-metallicity environment. Our data let us identify radio continuum data for 7 HII regions in the OSC, as well as establish upper limits for the RMS associated with the other 5 observed nondetections. By assuming a single ionizing star for each region, we assign spectral types from O9 to O5.5 to these sources. Combined with existing data, we identify a total of 12 HII regions in the OSC Arm with continuum and spectral data. Further research would involve re-observing our nondetections to identify data for what are likely B-type ionizing sources. Obtaining meaningful data for those nondetections would allow us to classify more stars powering HII regions in the region, increasing the amount of information known about star formation in the extreme conditions of the OSC and potentially revealing new information about how O-type and B-type stars form differently in the same unique environment.

The COVID-19 shutdown in the states of Washington and New York significantly reduced transportation and cut normal daily activities due to constraints issued by governments. To understand how air pollution was affected during the shutdown, this research studied various air pollutants at two different locations in each state; Seattle and Olympia/Tacoma in Washington state, and New York City and Rochester in the state of New York. Daily averages of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, and tropospheric ozone were collected for each location from 2016-2020, including the months from January through August. A linear regression model with a 95% confidence interval, was built using the 2016 to 2019 data to estimate the monthly averages for 2020 to determine if there was a change in any of the air pollution levels due to the COVID-19 shutdown. While there was no notable difference in most of the air pollution levels during the COVID-19 shutdown, there was a significant drop in nitrogen dioxide levels at all four locations. More surprisingly, carbon dioxide was showing an increase during the shutdown. It is speculated that there are two reasons behind the increase in carbon dioxide. First, carbon dioxide is showing an overall yearly increase during our selected research time interval. Secondly, the biggest carbon dioxide producers are industry and power plants. Due to said constraints and confinements, it is concluded that households' electricity consumption went up. This could be explained by the fact that schools and businesses moved entirely online requiring everyone to participate via video conferencing systems and to operate daily tasks via online platforms. As a whole, this research is significant to the study of climate change and its effects, and mitigation of said effects of climate change.