Maria Val Martin

Maria Val Martin is a lecturer in Environmental Protection at the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Sheffield University (UK). Maria received her undergraduate degree in Agriculture Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica of Valencia, Spain, and MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University, United States. In 2007, she was a Postdoc associate at the Harvard University Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group and then a visiting research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2011, she joined the Atmospheric Science Department at Colorado State University as a Research Scientist. She moved with her family from Colorado to Sheffield in July of 2014.

Maria is an atmospheric scientist. Her research focuses on understanding the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere and their interactions with the biosphere and climate system. This includes for example the study of the impact of wildfire emissions in the atmosphere, how air pollutants are transported and processed, and their environmental impacts. She addresses these research questions by using atmospheric observations in combination with earth system models. In 2014 she co-authored a paper in Nature Climate Change on ozone pollution and climate change threats to food security. She also has an instrumental background. During her PhD, she worked at the remote, high altitude Pico Mountain Atmospheric Chemistry Observatory in the Azores Island and did measurements of many air pollutants, e.g., nitrogen oxides, CO and O₃. In addition to her research, she teaches Environmental Protection to future chemical engineers.

Maria joined ESWN in 2007 and has since followed and participated in many discussions with great interest. In February 2015, she was appointed Champion of the Opportunity Committee in her department, a committee in charge of creating a supportive environment within the department to let women fulfill their career potential. In her new role, Maria hopes to help advance women’s careers in STEM academia.

Outside work, Maria spends much of her time with her two girls, Ruth and Milena, and her husband Domenico, who is also a faculty member of Sheffield University. She likes hiking with her family and running.