Professional Bio
David Keith has worked near the interface of climate science, energy technology, and public policy since 1990. He took first prize in Canada’s national physics prize exam, won MIT’s prize for excellence in experimental physics, and was one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment. Keith is Professor of Geophysical Sciences and founding faculty director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative at the University of Chicago.
Best known for his work on the science, technology, and public policy of solar geoengineering, Keith led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program before moving to Chicago in 2023. His policy work has ranged from analysis of electricity markets and carbon prices to research on public and expert perceptions of risky technologies. Keith’s hardware work includes the first interferometer for atoms, a high-accuracy infrared spectrometer for NASA’s ER-2, the development of an air contactor, and the development of a stratospheric propelled balloon experiment for solar geoengineering.
Keith founded Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company developing technology to capture CO2 from ambient air. He teaches science and technology policy, climate science, and solar geoengineering. He has reached more than 150,000 students worldwide with an edX energy course and has authored more than 200 academic publications with a total citation count of more than 20,000. Keith has written for the public through numerous opinion pieces and wrote the book A Case for Climate Engineering.