Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Showing 1-26 of 26 Results
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Rita Sader
Director, Finance & Operations, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordAs Director of Finance and Operations for the Woods Institute for the Environment, Rita Sader manages and oversees day-to-day operations for the institute, its centers, programs, and initiatives, including all finance functions, research administration, human resources, faculty affairs, administration, development, and facilities.
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Dustin Schroeder
Associate Professor of Geophysics, of Electrical Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioMy research focuses on advancing the scientific and technical foundations of geophysical ice penetrating radar and its use in observing and understanding the interaction of ice and water in the solar system. I am primarily interested in the subglacial and englacial conditions of rapidly changing ice sheets and their contribution to global sea level rise. However, a growing secondary focus of my work is the exploration of icy moons. I am also interested in the development and application of science-optimized geophysical radar systems. I consider myself a radio glaciologist and strive to approach problems from both an earth system science and a radar system engineering perspective. I am actively engaged with the flow of information through each step of the observational science process; from instrument and experiment design, through data processing and analysis, to modeling and inference. This allows me to draw from a multidisciplinary set of tools to test system-scale and process-level hypotheses. For me, this deliberate integration of science and engineering is the most powerful and satisfying way to approach questions in Earth and planetary science.
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Krish Seetah
Associate Professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, of Oceans, of Anthropology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioI am a zooarchaeologist, whose focus is primarily on colonisation and colonialism. My zooarchaeological research has used butchery analysis (with the benefit of professional and ethnographic actualistic experience) to investigate agency within the human-animal relationship. More recently, I have employed geometric morphometrics (GMM) as a mechanism for identifying and distinguishing animal populations. This approach to studying colonial activity centres on understanding how people manipulate animal bodies, both during life and after death.
Alongside the strictly faunal research is a research interest in technologies associated with animal processing. This has been used to investigate issues of technology, trade and socio-economic attitudes within colonial contexts in the Mediterranean (Venice & Montenegro) and the Baltic (Poland, Latvia & Lithuania).
I am also the Director of the ‘Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage’ (MACH) project, which studies European Imperialism and colonial activity. This project centres on the movement of peoples and material cultures, specifically within the contexts of slavery and Diaspora. The work of this project has focused on key sites in Mauritius and is based on a systematic programme of excavation and environmental sampling. The underlying aims are to better understand the transition from slavery to indentured labour following abolition, the extent and diversity of trade in the region and the environmental consequences of intense, monoculture, agriculture. -
Ross Shachter
Associate Professor of Management Science and Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProf. Shachter's research has focused on the representation, manipulation, and analysis of uncertainty and probabilistic reasoning in decision systems. As part of this work, he developed the DAVID influence diagram processing system for the Macintosh. He has developed models scheduling patients for cancer follow-up, and analyzing vaccination strategies for HIV and Helobacter pylori.
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Aditi Sheshadri
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioI joined Stanford's Earth System Science department as an assistant professor 2018. Prior to this, I was a a Junior Fellow of the Simons Foundation in New York, and a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University’s Department of Applied Physics and Applied Math and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. I got my Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science at MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, in the Program for Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate, where I worked with R. Alan Plumb. I’m broadly interested in atmosphere and ocean dynamics, climate variability, and general circulation.
I'm particularly interested in fundamental questions in atmospheric dynamics, which I address using a combination of theory, observations, and both idealized and comprehensive numerical experiments. Current areas of focus include the dynamics, variability, and change of the mid-latitude jets and storm tracks, the stratospheric polar vortex, and atmospheric gravity waves. -
Linda M. Dairiki Shortliffe
Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the School of Medicine, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe timing for intervention in obstruction in the infant and child is poorly understood.Our group has been interested in trying to define the risks that may be involved in obstructive and infectious uropathies and discovering early signs of damage to the urinary tract and kidney. We have explored ways of imaging the urinary tract using nonionizing radiation (US, MRI). We have studied the relationships of sex steroid hormones, pregnancy, reflux, urinary tract infection and urinary tract function.
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Robert Siegel
Professor (Teaching) of Microbiology and Immunology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy work is primarily involved in medical education and curricular development, especially in the areas of infectious disease, virology, HIV, and molecular biology. Projects included electronic applications to science education, three dimensional model building, service learning, and the development of undergraduate research projects.
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Alexandra May Smith
Communications Associate, Woods Institute
BioAlex helps to expand the visibility and impact of the Woods Institute for the Environment by amplifying the institute's research publications and news media engagement across digital channels. She is passionate about linking environmental research to action and is especially interested in the interplay of psychology and sustainability.
Before coming to Stanford, Alex worked in corporate social responsibility. She holds a BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz and an MS in Applied Social Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London. -
Olav Solgaard
Director, Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory and Robert L. and Audrey S. Hancock Professor in the School of Engineering
BioThe Solgaard group focus on design and fabrication of nano-photonics and micro-optical systems. We combine photonic crystals, optical meta-materials, silicon photonics, and MEMS, to create efficient and reliable systems for communication, sensing, imaging, and optical manipulation.
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George Somero
David and Lucile Packard Professor in Marine Science, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe examine two aspects of organism-environment interactions: How does stress from physical (e.g., temperature) and chemical (oxygen levels, pH) factors perturb organisms and how do organisms respond, adaptively, to cope with this stress? We examine evolutionary adaptation and phenotypic acclimatization using a wide variety of marine animals, including Antarctic fishes and invertebrates from intertidal habitats on the coastlines of temperate and tropical seas.
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Erik Sperling
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
On Leave from 01/01/2024 To 08/31/2024Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe research interests in the Sperling Lab are Earth history and the evolution of life, and the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere. As such this research can generally be considered paleontology, insofar as paleontology encompasses all aspects of the history of life.
Consequently, we define our research agenda by the questions we are interested in, rather than the tools used. This research incorporates multiple lines of evidence, and multiple tools, to investigate questions in the history of life. These lines of evidence include fossil data, molecular phylogenetics, sedimentary geochemistry, and developmental and ecological data from modern organisms. Ultimately, the goal is to link environmental change with organismal and ecological response through the lens of physiology.
Our field research takes place all over the world--current areas include:
-NW Canada (Yukon and Northwest Territories): Research has been conducted on the early Neoproterozoic Fifteenmile Group, Cryogenian and Ediacaran Windermere Supergroup, and on the Ordovician-Devonian Road River Group in the southern Richardson Mountains
-Southern Canadian Cordillera: Work here has focused on the early Cambrian Mural Formation and its soft-bodied fauna.
-England and Wales: Cambrian-Silurian successions in the Welsh Basin
-Namibia: Ediacaran Nama Group
-Upwelling zones: We study the oxygen minimum zone offshore California as an analogue for ancient low-oxygen oceans. -
David K. Stevenson, M.D.
Harold K. Faber Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean, Maternal and Child Health and Professor, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research is focused on the study of the ontogeny and control of heme catabolism and bilirubin production in the developing neonate. A better understanding of the role of increased bilirubin production in neonatal jaundice and the prevention of hemolytic jaundice has remained an overall objective of our program. We are also study the causes of preterm birth and ways to prevent it.
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Robert Street
William Alden and Martha Campbell Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStreet focuses on numerical simulations related to geophysical fluid motions. His research considers the modeling of turbulence in fluid flows, which are often stratified, and includes numerical simulation of coastal upwelling, internal waves and sediment transport in coastal regions, flow in rivers, valley winds, and the planetary boundary layer.
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Jenny Suckale
Associate Professor of Geophysics and, Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioMy research group studies disasters to reduce the risk they pose. We approach this challenge by developing customized mathematical models that can be tested against observational data and are informed by community needs through a scientific co-production process. We intentionally work on extremes across different natural systems rather than focusing on one specific natural system to identify both commonalities in the physical processes driving extremes and in the best practices for mitigating risk at the community level. Our current research priorities include volcanic eruptions, ice-sheet instability, permafrost disintegration, induced seismicity and flood-risk mitigation. I was recently awarded the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers and the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.
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James Sweeney
Professor of Management Science & Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, at the Precourt Institute for Energy and, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDeterminants of energy efficiency opportunities, barriers, and policy options. Emphasis on behavioral issues, including personal, corporate, or organizational. Behavior may be motivated by economic incentives, social, or cultural factors, or more generally, by a combination of these factors. Systems analysis questions of energy use.
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Paul Switzer
Professor of Statistics and of Environmental Earth System Science, Emeritus
BioDr. Switzer's research interests are in the development of statistical tools for the environmental sciences. Recent research has focused on the interpretation of environmental monitoring data, design of monitoring networks, detection of time trends in environmental and climatic paramenters, modeling of human exposure to pollutants, statistical evaluation of numerical climate models and error estimation for spatial mapping.
