Klaus Lackner
Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics and chair of the SEAS Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering
Professor Lackner received his Ph.D. in 1978 in theoretical particle physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and spent almost twenty years at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining Columbia in 2001. Presently he is developing innovative approaches to energy issues of the future. He was instrumental in forming the Zero Emission Coal Alliance (an industry-led effort to develop coal power with zero emissions to the atmosphere) and continues to research advanced fossil fuels and power plant design. Lackner is studying carbon capture and storage technologies, such as the extraction of carbon dioxide from the air, mineral carbonation, and deep marine sediment storage.