Why I joined Reflective
Having a child changed my perspective on climate in both philosophical and practical ways. Philosophically, imagining my daughter’s future made me confront how likely devastating climate outcomes are within her lifetime. It also forced me to be much clearer about what kind of scientific work could still matter on the timescale we’re facing. Practically, I was returning to my role as an Assistant Professor at Harvard in a changed world—one in which NOAA was being gutted, NASA Earth Science was under threat, and my $900k, five-year NSF grant had been terminated because of my Harvard affiliation. Any academic approach would be obstructed and delayed, and we do not have that time.
I reached out to my friend and colleague Doug MacMartin to ask “Are you aware of any job opportunities in the solar radiation management world?” For many years, Doug and I have kept in touch, meeting up for a meal occasionally so he could update me on the research on solar radiation management and I could teach him about the stratosphere. Although aerosols have never been my focus, my research on stratospheric dynamics [1-13] is nevertheless highly relevant for understanding stratospheric aerosol injection, and my research on trends [14-15] and extreme events [16-19] are closely related to what we might see in the event of deployment. Since SAI is the most promising approach for helping to prevent the worst effects of near-term global warming, I have always wanted to stay informed. Now I wanted to get involved. He told me about Reflective, a young organization taking the right approach to stratospheric aerosol injection research.
I was immediately impressed by the mission–Reflective’s goal is to equip the world with the data and tools needed to make informed decisions about sunlight reflection technologies, fast enough to matter. As a non-profit committed to transparency, we will make research publicly available–whether the research is done internally or we provide funding for others. We are agnostic about what we find, and our main priority is getting the research done, not who does it. This approach to doing essential science with urgency and integrity and without egos was honestly a revelation. Reflective has the right attitude and approach to ensure we can address as many of the critical uncertainties as possible before a decision is made about deploying SAI.
Within a month of reaching out to CEO Dakota Gruener to learn more, I was at Reflective’s semi-annual retreat, trying out the role of Head of Research. I was delighted with what I saw and how easily I fit into the conversations–I was up at the whiteboard to contribute before I was even formally introduced. I was impressed by the dedication of the team, the range of talented individuals, and the process for prioritizing and directing efforts to meet the mission. The very next week, I reached out to set up a part time contract so that I could get started as soon as possible while figuring out the logistics of my transition from Harvard. I am thrilled to have been brought into a leadership role in such a vibrant and dynamic organization, and I look forward to seeing our mission through.
As Head of Research, I will lead the work to define and execute the scientific roadmap, including developing and directing in-house research efforts and working with grantees and other external partners. Our organization will have a research portfolio that ranges from scientific modeling to education to designing outdoor experiments, and this wide range of activities makes my role dynamic and exciting. I will maintain some of my academic responsibilities, including mentoring and ensuring domain expertise within the team. This role gives me the ability to help steer the field toward the questions that most directly inform real-world decisions.
Linz et al. (2016) — The relationship between age of air and the diabatic circulation of the stratosphere
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0125.1Linz et al. (2017) — The strength of the meridional overturning circulation of the stratosphere
https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO3013Linz et al. (2019) — The global diabatic circulation of the stratosphere as a metric for Brewer-Dobson Circulation
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5069-2019Birner et al. (2020) — Gravitational separation of Ar/N2 and age of air in the lowermost stratosphere
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020Linz et al. (2021) — Stratospheric adiabatic mixing rates derived from the vertical gradient of age of air
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035199Bourguet & Linz (2022) — The impact of improved spatial and temporal resolution of reanalysis data on Lagrangian studies
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13325-2022Gupta et al. (2023) — Estimating the meridional extent of adiabatic mixing in the stratosphere
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037712Bourguet & Linz (2023) — Weakening of the Tropical Tropopause Layer Cold Trap with Global Warming
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7447-2023Garny et al. (2024) — Correction of stratospheric age of air (AoA) derived from SF6 for chemical sinks
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4193-2024Curbelo & Linz — Lagrangian Coherent Structures to Examine Mixing in the Stratosphere
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7941-2025Garny et al. (2024) — Age of stratospheric air: Progress on processes, observations and long-term trends (Reviews of Geophysics)
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023RG000832Brown, Linz & Leidich (2024) — Seasonal and Geographic Viability of Stratospheric Balloon Station-Keeping
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-71445-9Saunders, Walker, Stiller, … Linz — Age of air from ACE-FTS measurements of sulfur hexafluoride
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4185-2025Rivoire, Linz, Neu, Lin & Santee (2025) — Satellite nadir-viewing geometry affects the magnitude and detectability of long-term trends in stratospheric ozone
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2269-2025Rivoire, Linz & Li (2024) — Observational limitations to the emergence of climate signals (Geophysical Research Letters)
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109638Linz, Chen & Hu (2018) — Large-scale Atmospheric Control on Non-Gaussian Tails of Midlatitude Temperature Distributions
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079324Linz, Chen, Zhang & Zhang (2020) — A framework for understanding how dynamics shape temperature distributions
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085684Zhang, Linz & Chen (2022) — Interpreting Observed Temperature Probability Distributions
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0920.1Quan, Zhang, Bourguet, Linz & Chen (2023) — How Different Processes Shape Temperature Probability Distributions?
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-22-0556.1
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