Our research group addresses global scale issues at the intersection of climate and energy using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches drawn from the disciplines of chemistry, physics and applied mathematics.
Our research strategy involves the development of new techniques in optics, laser systems, interferometers, robotics, electronics, and system modeling using state-of-the-art aircraft, high altitude aircraft and small satellites to advance understanding of:
- the coupling of climate forcing and atmospheric chemistry,
- the flux of carbon isotopes from melt zones in the Arctic, from fracking wells, and to quantitatively establish the nation’s carbon sources and sinks,
- observed climate change using high accuracy observations of spectrally resolved infrared radiance measured from Earth orbit,
- feedbacks in the climate system that lead to irreversible change,
- photochemistry and chemical kinetics of free radicals that control catalytic transformations in the boundary layer, troposphere and stratosphere, and
- changes to university physical science curricula with emphasis on new approaches to the teaching of introductory chemistry and physics.