Philip M. Gschwend is the Ford Professor of Engineering and Professor Post-Tenure in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research specializes in environmental organic chemistry, focusing on phase exchanges and transformation processes, modeling the fates of organic pollutants, the roles of colloids and black carbons, and passive sampling methods for site evaluation. He also examines microplastics, chemical contamination of water supplies, and the environmental impacts of oil spills. Gschwend contributes to MIT's Climate, Environment & Life Sciences faculty and is affiliated with the MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, where he investigates the fates of organic compounds in natural environments to assess risks and inform remediation strategies.

Gschwend earned a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1973 and a Ph.D. from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1979. He is co-author of the textbook Environmental Organic Chemistry, 3rd edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2016), with René P. Schwarzenbach and Dieter M. Imboden. Key publications include "Sequestration of hydrophobic organic contaminants by geosorbents" (Environmental Science & Technology, 1997), "Quantification of the dilute sedimentary soot phase: Implications for PAH speciation and bioavailability" (1996), "Sorption kinetics of hydrophobic organic compounds to natural sediments and soils" (1986), "On the constancy of sediment-water partition coefficients of hydrophobic organic pollutants" (1985), and "Fluxes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to marine and lacustrine sediments in the northeastern United States" (1981), all in leading journals. More recent contributions encompass "Performance of passive sampling with low-density polyethylene membranes for the estimation of freely dissolved DDx concentrations in lake environments" (Chemosphere, 2018), "Investigating the Effect of Bioirrigation on In Situ Porewater Concentrations and Fluxes of Polychlorinated Biphenyls Using Passive Samplers" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2018), and "Advancing the Use of Passive Sampling in Risk Assessment and Management of Sediments Contaminated with Hydrophobic Organic Chemicals" (2018). These works highlight his foundational role in understanding pollutant dynamics in sediments, soils, and water systems.

Professional Email: pmgschwe@mit.edu