Jesse Kroll

Professor Jesse Kroll's research involves understanding the chemical transformations of organic species in the Earth’s atmosphere via the improved characterization of the sources and evolution of these species. Atmospheric organics play several roles of central importance to environmental science: they affect air quality by forming secondary pollutants such as ozone; they make up a large fraction of particulate matter, with serious implications for human health and climate; and they exchange with other domains in the environment (oceans, soils, etc.), influencing biogeochemical cycles and the distribution of pollutants. 

The aim of the Kroll Group's research is to gain a detailed understanding of these effects via the improved characterization of the sources and evolution of atmospheric organics. Toward this end, his research group is involved in two general (and closely related) areas of research: 1) the development of new analytical tools for the measurement and characterization of organics in both the gas and condensed phases; and 2) the use of these tools in the laboratory and the field, in order to better constrain the amount, nature, and chemical evolution of atmospheric organics.

Jesse's graduate work focused on gas-phase reactions, and his postdoctoral work (at Caltech) on the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). He was then a Senior Scientist at Aerodyne Research, Inc., developing and using mass spectrometric tools to characterize organic aerosol. He joined the MIT faculty in 2009.