As a professor at Stanford University, Mark Jacobson’s main goal in his research is to better understand severe atmospheric problems, such as air pollution and global warming, and develop and analyze large-scale clean-renewable energy solutions to them. To gain that understanding, he develops three-dimensional computer models to simulate air pollution, weather, climate, and renewable energy. In 2000, he applied one of his models to discover that the main component of soot pollution particles might be the second-leading cause of global warming after carbon dioxide. That finding and many others from Jacobson’s lab have become the scientific backbone of various laws and regulations surrounding emissions and pollution. He applies his expertise to a variety of projects, from cofounding the Solutions Project, a group that combines science, business and culture to develop and implement science based clean-energy plans to participating in a TED debate rated as the sixth all-time Science and Technology TED Talk.

Jacobson has published two textbooks of two editions each and over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has testified three times for the US Congress. He earned a BA, BS and MS from Stanford University and an MS and PhD in Atmospheric Science from UCLA.