Dr. Colette Heald

Professor

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Biography

Colette Heald is a Full Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry and a faculty member at ETH Zurich. Born in 1977 in Montréal, Canada, she obtained her undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in 2000 and completed her PhD in Earth Planetary Science at Harvard University in 2005. Her academic career includes a postdoctoral fellowship with NOAA focused on climate and global change at the University of California Berkeley (2006-2007). Heald served as an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University from 2008 to 2011 and subsequently held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor and then a Full Professor from 2012 to 2023. She has been recognized for her contributions to geosciences with the American Geophysical Union’s James B. Macelwane Medal and is a Fellow of the AGU. Her teaching and mentoring efforts have earned her multiple awards, including the Maseeh Excellence Teaching Award and the Distinguished Service Leadership Award. Heald's research interests lie in global tropospheric chemistry, focusing on atmospheric aerosol sources, biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and chemistry-climate interactions.

Research Interests

Experience

Professor

2024-01-01 — Present

ETH Zurich • Zürich, Switzerland

Professor in the Department of Environmental Systems Science.

Professor

2012-01-01 — 2023-01-01

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Full Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Assistant Professor

2008-01-01 — 2011-01-01

Colorado State University • Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science.

Postdoctoral Fellow

2006-01-01 — 2007-01-01

University of California Berkeley • Berkeley, California, USA

NOAA Climate Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow.

Awards

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James B. Macelwane Medal

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Maseeh Excellence Teaching Award

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Committed Caring Faculty Award

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Distinguished Service Leadership Award

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Capers Marion McDonald Award

Courses

Colloquium Atmosphere Climate 1 Colloquium Atmosphere Climate 2 Colloquium Atmosphere Climate 3 Atmospheric Chemistry Atmospheric Chemistry Global Change

Requirements for ETH Zurich

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.4
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
TOEFL
Total
Required:100
GRE General
Verbal
Required:159
Verbal Percentile
Required:80
Quantitative
Required:168
Quantitative Percentile
Required:81
Analytical Writing
Required:4.5
Writing Percentile
Required:85
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in a related field (Engineering, Natural Sciences, or Mathematics) Minimum 180 ECTS credits Subject-specific knowledge equivalent to ETH Bachelor's programs
Application Checklist
  • Bachelor's degree diploma or transcript
  • Official academic transcripts
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Letter of Motivation (1 page)
  • Two academic recommendation letters
  • English language proficiency certificate
  • GRE General Test (for non-EU/EFTA applicants)
Specialization Notes

The GRE is mandatory for students who did not obtain their Bachelor's degree in an EU/EFTA state. Some departments (e.g., Computer Science) have specific ECTS credit requirements in core subjects.