Mark is a PhD candidate in the MIT Institute for Data, Systems & Society and holds a research assistantship in the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, where he works with Professor Steven Barrett and Dr. Robert Malina. His research aims to quantify the environmental and economic costs, benefits, and trade-offs associated with the use of renewable fuels for aviation. Mark uses the methods of life cycle assessment, techno-economic modeling and geographic information systems for this purpose. During his tenure as a Martin Fellow, he plans to use system dynamics techniques to model the adoption dynamics of renewable jet fuel for commercial aviation, with a focus on the impact of learning curve effects on fuel production costs.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from MIT, and is currently supported in his graduate studies by the government of Canada as an NSERC fellow. Mark has work experience in the oil and gas, heavy construction and mechanical design industries, and originally comes from Edmonton, Canada.
Peer-reviewed Publications
“The impact of advanced biofuels on aviation emissions and operations in the U.S.,” Winchester, N., Malina, R.,Staples, M.D., Barrett, S.R.H., Energy Economics 49, pp. 482-491, 2015. DOI:10.1016/j.eneco.2015.03.024
“Energy return on investment for alternative jet fuels,” Trivedi, P., Olcay, H., Staples, M.D., Withers M.R., Malina, R., Barrett S.R.H., Applied Energy 141, 167-174, 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.12.016
“Lifecycle greenhouse gas footprint and minimum selling price of renewable diesel and jet fuel from advanced fermentation production technologies,” Staples, M.D., Malina, R., Olcay, H., Pearlson, M.N., Hileman, J.I., Boies, A., Barrett, S.R.H., Energy and Environmental Science 7, pp. 1545-1554, 2014. DOI: 10.1039/C3EE43655A
“Quantifying the climate impacts of albedo changes due to biofuel production: a comparison with biogeochemical effects,’’ Caiazzo, F., Malina, R., Staples, M., Wolfe, P., Yim, S., Barrett, S., Environmental Research Letters 9 (2), 2014. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/9/2/024015
“Water consumption footprint and land requirements of large-scale alternative diesel and jet fuel production,’’Staples, M., Olcay, H., Malina, R., Trivedi, P., Pearlson, M., Strzepek, K., Paltsev, S., Wollersheim, C., Barrett, S.,Environmental Science and Technology 47 (21), pp. 12557-12565, 2013. DOI: 10.1021/es4030782