Ian A. Waitz is the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor and Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He is also the Director of the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER), an FAA/NASA/Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence. His principal areas of interest are the modeling and evaluation of climate, local air quality and noise impacts of aviation, including the assessment of technological, operational and policy options for mitigating these impacts. Professor Waitz received a NASA Turning Goals Into Reality Award for Noise Reduction in 2003, and was awarded the FAA 2007 Excellence in Aviation Research Award. He is a Fellow of the AIAA. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the fields of thermodynamics and energy conversion, propulsion, and experimental projects. He was honored with the 2002 MIT Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award and appointment in 2003 as an MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow for a 10-year term. He received a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University in 1986, an M.S. from George Washington University in 1988, and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1991.

Abstract: The Environmental Impacts of Aviation

The environmental impacts of aviation —climate change, surface air quality and community noise—involve a variety of physical effects that occur over a range of length-scales and time-scales. The impacts result from complex relationships among physical phenomena, technology, operations, policies, market conditions, and personal behavior. The talk will provide an overview of some of the important relationships. Quantitative estimates of the magnitude of the environmental impacts will be presented, and key scientific and policy uncertainties will be identified.

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