Citizen scientist efforts have been shown to effectively engage the public in STEM departments and result in valuable data, which are capable of answering worthy research questions. However, most citizen scientist efforts have been centered in colleges of science, and a limited number have crossed into research areas important to chemical engineering fields. In this work we report on the results of a project to recruit high school and middle school students across [Name of valley removed to preserve double blind review] as citizen scientists, working in partnership with chemical engineering researchers in an effort to create a distributed online network of air quality sensors. Undergraduate mentors trained middle and high school students to monitor and maintain their own air quality sensor. Through partnerships with a local community group concerned with air quality, teaching materials were co-developed to both reach middle and high school students. Students learned the science behind the research and about the difficulties common to physical measurements, using these tailored teaching modules, to better prepare them to analyze their data. Once trained, students are expected to become semi-independent researchers in charge of monitoring and maintaining their piece of a larger air quality map. We describe in this work the hurdles inherent in such citizen science engagement, within a chemical engineering research program, and means to address them. We describe successful means of engaging classrooms, training citizen scientists, obtaining faculty buy-in within the confines of state curricular demands, and addressing school administration concerns.