Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Margaret Tolbert Research Group

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Hazel Barnes Prize, 2007
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2005
National Academy of Sciences Member, 2004
NASA Group Achievement Award, Crystal-Face Science Team, 2003
NASA Group Achievement Award, SOLVE Experiment, 2001
BFA Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Creative Work, 2001

Curriculum Vitae [ PDF ]

Office: CIRES 166
Tel: 303.492.3179
Email: tolbert@colorado.edu

We are a research group in the department of Chemistry and CIRES at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Our research is aimed at contributing to a better understanding of the Earth's complex atmosphere. Specifically, work in our group specializes in understanding atmospheric heterogeneous chemistry. For example, the importance of heterogeneous chemistry in catalyzing stratospheric ozone loss has been firmly established. In the case of the ozone hole, reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are responsible for repartitioning chlorine reservoir species into photochemically active species capable of catalytically destroying ozone. However, significant questions still remain as to the composition, phase, nucleation mechanisms, and surface chemistry of PSCs. Traditionally, work in our group has been aimed at answering these questions.

Today, the research in our group has expanded in an attempt to answer similar questions about cirrus clouds and other particulate matter that exist in the troposphere. Currently, our research explores the chemistry of tropospheric aerosols, and the impact of such aerosols on climate and visibility. Finally, we are also probing aerosols in other planetary atmospheres and studying the possible role of aerosols on early Earth as life was developing. Research in our group is funded primarily through NASA and NSF.

Opportunities

Prospective Students

In the News

Margaret Tolbert Wins Prestigious ACS Award
CIRES Fellow Margaret Tolbert is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology from the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award recognizes "creativity in research and technology or methods of analysis to provide a scientific basis for informed environmental control decision-making processes, or to provide practical technologies that will reduce health risk factors."

Margaret Tolbert Awarded 2007 Hazel Barnes Prize
Professor Margaret Tolbert has been awarded the 2007 Hazel Barnes Prize, the highest faculty recognition for teaching and research given by the university. [ source: News & Events ]

Hasenkopf Wins NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Christa Hasenkopf, a CIRES Graduate Student Fellow in the Tolbert Research Group has received the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Award. The Foundation's reviewers said that Hasenkopf's research, "Optical constants of early Earth haze analogs," represents an advance in the area of study. [ source: National Science Foundation ]

Early Earth Haze May Have Spurred Life, According to New CU-Boulder Study
Hazy skies on early Earth could have provided a substantial source of organic material useful for emerging life on the planet. [ source: News & Events ]