David McGee

Research Interests

I seek to understand how Earth’s climate evolves over time. Through a range of collaborative projects, my group examines the ways that rainfall patterns, winds, permafrost, and other parts of the Earth system have responded to natural climate changes in the past, and we use these records of past changes to benchmark the models and theories used to project the future.

To reconstruct the history of Earth’s climate, we look for geochemical evidence of past conditions preserved in stalagmites, lake deposits, and deep-sea sediments through careful field observations, precise dating using uranium and its daughter isotopes, geochemical data, and comparisons with climate model outputs and modern climate data.

My current and past work studying paleoclimate has explored the history of the Sahara Desert, the rise and fall of large lakes in the western U.S., shifts in the tropical rainbelt, and changes in high-latitude temperatures and permafrost during Earth’s past warm intervals.

Topics I investigate:

• The response of tropical rainfall to past climate changes
• Dust as a tracer of past winds
• Water availability in drylands
• Permafrost stability in past warm climates

Biographic Sketch

David McGee joined the EAPS faculty in 2012 and currently serves as the Associate Department Head for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He has also led Terrascope, an MIT first-year learning community, since 2015; the program engages an average 50 students each year, exploring environmental challenges through project-based classes. McGee holds a BA in geology from Carleton College, as well as an MA in teaching and environmental education from Chatham College and an MS in earth and environmental sciences from Tulane University. He went on to earn a PhD from Columbia University in 2009, and was awarded a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with a joint appointment at the University of Minnesota and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Prior to his graduate studies in earth science, McGee taught middle and high school math and science for seven years. At MIT, McGee’s commitment to teaching and mentorship has earned recognition including an Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2018 for his work advising first-year students and a 2024 School of Science Teaching Prize for Undergraduate Education. In 2022, McGee was named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow—one of MIT’s most prestigious teaching honors awarded for innovative and sustained contributions to undergraduate education. He also helps steer numerous Institute initiatives focused on environment, climate, and sustainability, including co-chairing both the Climate Nucleus Education Working Group and the Sustainability Leadership Steering Committee, as well as serving on the Climate and Sustainability Consortium Faculty Steering Committee and the Climate Action Through Education (CATE) Faculty Review Committee.