Stanford University Professor

Mark Z. Jacobson

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program
Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
Senior Fellow, Precourt Institute for Energy

CLICK HERE FOR PROGRAM IN ATMOSPHERE / ENERGY

B.S. Civil Engineering, B.A. Economics, and M.S. Environmental Engineering (1988) Stanford University
M.S. (1991) and Ph.D. (1994) Atmospheric Science, University of California at Los Angeles

Scientific Background

The main goal of Jacobson’s research is to understand better severe atmospheric problems, such as air pollution and global warming, and develop and analyze large-scale clean-renewable energy solutions to them. To address this goal, he has developed and applied numerical solvers and models to simulate air pollution, weather, and climate. In 1993, he developed the world’s fastest ordinary differential equation solver for a given level of accuracy at the time and applied it to atmospheric chemistry problems. In 1993-4, he developed the world’s first air pollution model that treated two-way feedback to weather and climate of gases and size- and composition-resolved aerosols, and in 2001, the first coupled air-pollution-weather-climate model to telescope from the global to urban scale. Some later versions of the model simulated the evolution of the mixing state of aerosols and clouds and the sub-grid exhaust plumes of all aircraft flights worldwide. Individual solvers he has developed include those for cloud and aerosol coagulation, breakup, condensation/evaporation, freezing, dissolution, chemical equilibrium, and lightning; air-sea exchange; ocean chemistry; greenhouse gas absorption; and surface processes, among others. His research has led to several scientific findings with policy implications. In 2000, he discovered that black carbon, the main component of soot aerosol particles, might be the second-leading cause of global warming in terms of radiative forcing, after carbon dioxide. This result and five subsequent papers provided the original scientific basis for European Parliament Resolution B7-0474/2011 calling for black carbon emission controls on climate grounds (Sep. 14, 2011), the 21-country Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (2012), and five proposed U.S. laws from 2008-2010. His findings that carbon dioxide domes over cities and carbon dioxide buildup since preindustrial times have enhanced air pollution mortality through its feedback to particles and ozone served as a scientific basis for the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 approval of the first U.S. regulation of carbon dioxide (the California waiver). His group’s 2005 development of the world’s first wind map based on data alone served as a scientific justification for the wind component of the Repower America and Pickens Plan energy proposals and the siting of several proposed wind farms. He also coauthored the first plan, featured on the cover of Scientific American, to power the world for all purposes with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). He and his group have further studied the effects absorbing organic aerosols (brown carbon) on UV and visible radiation, aerosols on ozone, winds, and precipitation; biomass burning on climate; hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on air quality and stratospheric ozone; ethanol and diesel vehicles on air quality; agriculture on air pollution; aircraft on climate; urban surfaces on climate; and combining renewable energy on ensuring grid reliability. To date, he has published two textbooks of two editions each, published over 125 peer-reviewed journal articles, and given over 330 invited talks. He has testified three times for the U.S. Congress. Nearly a thousand researchers have used computer models he has developed. In 2005, he received the American Meteorological Society Henry G. Houghton Award for “significant contributions to modeling aerosol chemistry and to understanding the role of soot and other carbon particles on climate.” His paper, “Review of energy solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security,” published in January 2009, is the top all-time-accessed paper as of July 2012 in the journal Energy and Environmental Sciences. He served on the Energy Efficiency and Renewables advisory committee to the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy (Y2E2) Building

473 Via Ortega, Room 397
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Tel: (650) 723-6836
Fax: (650) 723-7058
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @mzjacobson

Curriculum Vita

Current PhD Graduate Students: