Jesse Kroll

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Professor of Chemical Engineering

Director, Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory

Education: A.B., Harvard 1996, Chemistry and Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ph.D., Harvard 2003, Chemistry

Jesse's interests lie in the chemical transformations that organic compounds undergo in the atmosphere. His 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.

Ursula Jongebloed

Postdoctoral Researcher

Education: B.A., Dartmouth College 2018, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; M.S., University of Washington 2022, Atmospheric Sciences; Ph.D., University of Washington 2025, Atmospheric and Climate Science

Ursula completed her Ph.D. at University of Washington, where she measured sulfur isotopes in ice cores and conducted global model experiments to study atmospheric sulfate sources and chemistry, including dimethyl sulfide oxidation and passive volcanic degassing. At MIT, she is interested in chemical production of formaldehyde and other small oxidation products in low-NO environments.

Linjie Li

Postdoctoral Researcher

Education: B.S., Sun Yat-Sen University 2016, Applied Meteorology; M.S., Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2019, Atmospheric Physics and Atmospheric Environment; Ph.D., University of Gothenburg 2024, Chemistry

Linjie is interested in studying atmospheric VOCs oxidation pathways and aerosol formation through chamber experiments, with a focus on peroxy radical chemistry. Her previous research focused on the oxidation of VOCs and gas-to-particle partitioning of their oxidized products under a range of chemical and environmental conditions, contributing to a better understanding of SOA formation. She also participated in ambient observations of POA and SOA at a molecular level across various global locations, identifying their sources and formation mechanisms of anthropogenic and biogenic SOA in diverse environments.

Isabel Albores

Graduate Student

Education: B.A., Williams College 2023, Chemistry + Mathematics

Isabel is interested in studying atmospheric reactions of VOCs under different reaction conditions, particularly with varying amounts of nitrogen oxides to understand how chemistry may change in different environments. She is particularly excited about projects that relate to environmental justice. Before starting at MIT, she conducted research on the gas phase and aerosol oxidation products of limonene under different conditions (at Williams), as well as transported pollution from wildfire smoke (as a SOARS intern at UCAR).

Seamus Frey

Graduate Student

Education: B.A., Bowdoin College 2023, Chemistry

Seamus is interested in exploring the reactions of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere through chamber studies. Before arriving at MIT, Seamus conducted research centered around predicting the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals in the environment (Bowdoin) and exploring the partitioning of water soluble organic gases to aqueous aerosols (UC-Irvine).

Sandhya Sethuraman

Graduate Student

Education: B.S., Columbia University 2025, Chemical Engineering

Sandhya is interested in studying organic radical chemistry and fates in the gas and particle phases under a variety of environmental conditions. Before starting at MIT, she conducted research on modeling multiphase chemistry, with a particular focus on S(IV) oxidation at the interfaces of microdroplets.

Lexy LeMar

Graduate Student

Education: B.S., Caltech 2021, Chemical Engineering

Lexy is interested in studying reaction pathways of organic radicals in the aqueous phase. Her research focuses on how the reactivity of alkoxy and peroxy radicals differs between the gas phase and aqueous phase. Prior to MIT, she conducted research at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, modifying and implementing a photochemical model for studying atmospheric chemistry on exoplanets.