Mark Potosnak, PhD

Dr. Mark Potosnak has degrees from Harvard and Columbia and he was a fellow in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. His research focuses on how climate change impacts interactions between the plants and air quality. His studies have revealed complex connections between temperature, drought, invasive species, carbon dioxide concentration and other global climate change factors on ecosystem emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds. He also deploys low-cost air quality sensors that provide information for urban areas to be more resilient to climate change. Through the Metropolitan Chicago Data-science Corps​, he fosters the work of student researchers who partner with local nonprofit organizations to meet their data science needs. Dr. Potosnak has been trained as a Climate Ambassador for the Catholic Climate Covenant, and in this role he shares his scientific understanding with others from a faith perspective.

• Global Climate Change (ENV 230)
• Advanced Environmental Data Analysis with R (ENV 359)

• Faculty representative for the Presidential Sustainability Committee (2021 to present)
• Member of the 2019-2021 cohort of the Vincentian Mission Institute