Douglas MacMartin

Douglas MacMartin

Associate Professor
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
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Biography

Douglas MacMartin is an Associate Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University.  His research focuses on Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM, also known as climate engineering, solar geoengineering, or climate intervention), with the aim of helping to develop the knowledge base necessary to support informed future societal decisions in this challenging and controversial field.  He has published extensively on the subject, and in addition to public and academic presentations has provided briefings to the UN Environment Program and testimony to the US Congress, and was a member of the US National Academies panel that made recommendations on both research and governance in March 2021. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1992; previous positions include United Technologies Research Center (1994-2000) and the California Institute of Technology (2000-2015).  His research is funded by NSF and by the Cornell Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.

Research Interests

Dr. MacMartin works at the interface between engineering feedback analysis and climate dynamics, using tools from engineering dynamics and control to solve critical questions in climate science. Primary focus is on developing the knowledge needed to support informed decisions about solar geoengineering; mainly with stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI).  Interests also include dynamics and feedback analysis of the climate more generally.  Member of the systems engineering team for the Thirty Meter Telescope, involved in control design and dynamic performance analysis.  Previous research areas include vibration, noise, and flow control.

Selected Publications

  • MacMartin, D.G., D. Visioni, B. Kravitz, J. Richter, T. Felgenhauer, W.R. Lee, D.R. Morrow, E.A. Parson, and M. Sugiyama, “Scenarios for modeling solar radiation modification”, Proc. National Academy of Sciences, 119(3):e202230119, 2022.  Doi:10.1073/pnas.2202230119.
  • Lee, W.R., D.G. MacMartin, D. Visioni, B. Kravitz, Y. Chen, J.C. Moore, G. Leguy, D.M. Lawrence and D.A. Bailey, “High-latitude stratospheric aerosol injection to preserve the Arctic”, Earth’s Future, 11, e2022EF003052,  2023  https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003052
  • Zhang, Y., D. G. MacMartin, D. Visioni, and B. Kravitz, “How large is the design space for stratospheric aerosol geoengineering?” Earth System Dynamics, 13, 201–217, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-201-2022
  • Kravitz, B., and D. G. MacMartin, “Uncertainty and the basis for confidence in solar geoengineering research”, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1, 64-75 (2020).  Doi: 10.1038/s43017-019-0004-7
  • MacMartin, D.G., and B. Kravitz, “The engineering of climate engineering”, Annual Reviews of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, 2:445-67, 2019.  doi:10.1146/annurev-control-053018-023725
  • MacMartin, D.G. and B. Kravitz, “Mission-driven research for stratospheric aerosol geoengineering”, Proc. National Academy of Sciences, 116(4):1089-1094, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811022116
  • MacMartin, D G., B Kravitz.  2016. "Dynamic climate emulators for solar geoengineering."  Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16 (24): 15789-15799.
  • Kravitz, B., D G. MacMartin, H. Wang, P J Rasch.  2016. "Geoengineering as a design problem."  Earth System Dynamics 7 (2): 469-497

See all Publications

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Chair of 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Climate Engineering
  • National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Committee member, 2019-2021; “Developing a Research Agenda and Research Governance Approaches for Climate Intervention Strategies that Reflect Sunlight to Cool Earth”
  • Faculty Fellow, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (Cornell University) 2016
  • AACC O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper, Applications (American Control Conference) 2011
  • Outstanding Achievement Awards for technical contributions in helicopter cabin active noise control for laboratory demonstration and successful flight test (UTRC) 1994

Education

  • B.A.Sc. (Engineering Science), University of Toronto, 1987
  • S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1990
  • Ph.D. (controls; minor structural dynamics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1992

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