Joost de Gouw, a chemistry professor at CU Boulder and CIRES fellow, studies indoor and outdoor air pollution from cities, wildfires, landfills, and oil and gas production. To track pollution, his group uses mass spectrometry, an analytical tool that characterizes chemical compounds and molecules, and satellite remote sensing instruments. For his first airborne field mission, de Gouw got to visit the Maldives — each day, he and his colleagues had to commute by boat to get on the plane loaded with scientific instruments. When he was a kid, he wanted to be a forester, but he eventually found physics and never looked back. De Gouw is a “lifelong cycling enthusiast.” In 2023, he rode the Mickelson Trail, a 90-mile trail through the Black Hills in South Dakota.

Humans of CIRES Q&A

Q: What is your role at CIRES?

I lead a group that studies indoor and outdoor air pollution from cities, wildfires, landfills, and oil and gas production. We use sophisticated mass spectrometry instruments as well as data from satellite remote sensing instruments.

Q: Where is the most exciting place you’ve traveled to for your research/job?

My first airborne field mission was done from the Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean. We stayed for 7 weeks on this tiny island with the capital Male. And every day we commuted by boat to the island with the airport.

Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a forester. My parents were very good about it and gave me a book on trees for my birthday. I got bored pretty quickly with it. Later when I found out I was good at Physics, I pursued that for my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Q: Tell us about a hobby of yours.

I am a lifelong cycling enthusiast. I commute to work by bicycle pretty much every day. In 2023, I rode the Mickelson Trail on vacation. The Mickelson Trail is a former railroad and now long-distance bike trail that runs for 90 miles through the Black Hills of South Dakota.