His research focuses on research and engineering solutions to the major environmental challenges presently facing the world. His laboratory works specifically on problems of air & water pollution and their effects on climate change.
Professor Martin's current research has a focus on connections among plant emissions of volatile organic compounds, particle-phase secondary organic material, and climate. He was the lead foreign scientist of the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (AMAZE-08), and he directs the Harvard Environmental Chamber. The chamber is used in ways directed toward understanding the particle-relevant chemistry of pristine atmospheric environments and the effects of pollution on those environments. Foci include (1) understanding and quantifying mechanisms for the formation of secondary organic material and (2) characterizing and predicting the climate-relevant properties of the particle-phase fraction of the secondary organic aerosol. Investigated properties include the influence of the organic material on the phase transitions, hygroscopic growth, and CCN activity on the inorganic fraction of internally mixed particles. He is principal investigator and lead foreign scientist for "Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014),"