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Prof. Ronald G Prinn
TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science
Director, Center for Global Change Science
Co-Director, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
Primary DLC
Center for Global Change Science
MIT Room:
54-1312
(617) 253-2452
rprinn@mit.edu
https://globalchange.mit.edu/about-us/personnel/prinn-ronald
Areas of Interest and Expertise
Chemical-Dynamical Models of the Upper Atmosphere
Measurement and Modeling of the Long-Lived Gases Involved in the Greenhouse Effect and Ozone Depletion
Global Atmospheric Chemistry of Sulfur Compounds
Atmospheric Chemistry on Venus and the Outer Planets
Chemical Models of Primitive Solar Nebula
Integrated Assessment of Global Change
Atmospheric Science
Biogeochemistry of the Greenhouse Gases and Reflective Aerosols
Upper Atmospheric Chemistry and Circulation
Climate Modeling Initiative
Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate
Meteorology and Planetary Atmospheres
Climate Change
Research Summary
Dr. Prinn's research interests incorporate the chemistry, dynamics, and physics of the atmospheres of the Earth and other planets, and the chemical evolution of atmospheres. He has been a faculty member at MIT since 1971, and headed the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences from 1998 to 2003. He is currently involved in a wide range of projects in atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemistry, climate science, and integrated assessment of science and policy regarding climate change. He leads the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), in which the rates of change of the concentrations of the trace gases involved in the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion have been measured continuously over the globe for the past three decades. He is pioneering the use of inverse methods, which use such measurements and three-dimensional models to determine trace gas emissions and understand atmospheric chemical processes, especially those processes involving the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. He is also working extensively with social scientists to link the science, economics and policy aspects of global change. He has co-led the development of a unique integrated global system model coupling economics, climate physics and chemistry, and land and ocean ecosystems, which is used to estimate uncertainty in climate predictions and analyze proposed climate policies. He has made significant contributions to the development of national and international scientific research programs in global change. He served as one of the Lead Authors in the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2007.
Professor Prinn has served as Chairman for Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and has chaired the Steering Committees for the IGBP/IAMAP International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Earth Sciences, and the U.S. Global Tropospheric Chemistry Program. He has been a member of the Steering Committees of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), and the NASA Network for Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change, and a member of the IAMAP International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution, the NRC Space Science Board, the NRC Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the NASA Space Science and Applications Advisory Committee, and the NASA Earth System Sciences Committee. He has twice testified to the United States Congress on climate change science and its implications for policy. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical U nion (AGU), a recipient of AGU's Macelwane Medal, and a Fellow of the AAAS. He has published some 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, co-authored Planets and their Atmospheres: Origin and Evolution (Academic Press), and edited or co-edited Global Atmospheric-Biospheric Chemistry (Plenum), Atmospheric Chemistry in a Changing World (Springer), and Inverse Methods in Global Biogeochemical Cycles (AGU).
Recent Work
Projects
September 1, 2020
Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives
Principal Investigators
Ronald Prinn
,
Noelle Selin
September 10, 2015
Center for Global Change Science
Rwanda Climate Change Observatory
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
April 30, 2012
Center for Global Change Science
Links of Conventional Air Pollution to Climate, Environmental Impacts and Mitigation
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
July 18, 2011
Center for Global Change Science
Science and Policy Research at MIT
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
July 18, 2011
Center for Global Change Science
Atmospheric Chemistry Research at MIT
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
July 18, 2011
Center for Global Change Science
Uncertainty Quantification
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
July 18, 2011
Center for Global Change Science
Atmosphere and Climate Research at MIT
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
May 13, 2010
Center for Global Change Science
Assessing Metrics and Simplified Aviation Climate Impact Models
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
May 27, 2009
Center for Global Change Science
Terrestrial Ecosystems Model (TEM) and the Global Land System Framework
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
May 27, 2009
Center for Global Change Science
Analysis of Climate Change Uncertainties and Risks Using the MIT IGSM (Integrated Global System Model)
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
May 27, 2009
Center for Global Change Science
The Interface of Infrastructures, Markets, and Natural Cycles - Innovative Modeling and Control Mechanisms for Managing Electricity, Water and Air Quality in Texas
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
October 16, 2007
Center for Global Change Science
Biogeochemistry of Greenhouse Gases and Refective Aerosols (Atmospheric Pollution)
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
May 18, 2003
Center for Global Change Science
Origin and Potential Control of Air Pollution in Katmandu Valley, Nepal
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
September 22, 1998
Center for Global Change Science
Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE)
Principal Investigator
Ronald Prinn
Video
11.17.20-Climate-Related-Ronald-Prinn
November 17, 2020
Conference Video
Duration: 10:8
Show more
Ronald Prinn
Director, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
Director, Center for Global Change Science (CGCS)
Related Faculty
Ms. Anne Slinn
Executive Director for Research, Center for Global Change Science (CGCS)
Dr. Xiang Gao
Principal Research Scientist
Dr. Xiang Gao
Principal Research Scientist