Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Showing 1-100 of 233 Results
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Jason Andrews
Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and, by courtesy, of Epidemology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur laboratory aims to develop and test innovative approaches to the diagnosis, treatment and control of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings. We draw upon multiple fields including mathematical modeling, microbial genetics, field epidemiology, statistical inference and biodesign to work on challenging problems in infectious diseases, with an emphasis on tuberculosis and tropical diseases.
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Eric Appel
Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Pediatrics (Endocrinology) and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe underlying theme of the Appel Lab at Stanford University integrates concepts and approaches from supramolecular chemistry, natural/synthetic materials, and biology. We aim to develop supramolecular biomaterials that exploit a diverse design toolbox and take advantage of the beautiful synergism between physical properties, aesthetics, and low energy consumption typical of natural systems. Our vision is to use these materials to solve fundamental biological questions and to engineer advanced healthcare solutions.
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Nicole Ardoin
Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNicole Ardoin, the Emmett Family Faculty Scholar, is an associate professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences in the Environmental Social Sciences Department of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (SDSS).
Professor Ardoin studies motivations for and barriers to environmental behavior among a range of audiences and in varying settings; the use of social strategies by NGOs to engage individuals and communities in decisionmaking related to the environment; and the role of place-based connections and environmental learning on engagement in place-protective and stewardship actions over time.
Professor Ardoin's Social Ecology Lab group uses mixed-methods approaches--including participant observation, interviews, surveys, mapping, network analysis, and ethnography, among others--to pursue their interdisciplinary scholarship with community collaborators through a field-based, participatory frame. Professor Ardoin is an associate editor of the journal Environmental Education Research, a trustee of the California Academy of Sciences, and chair of NatureBridge's Education Advisory Council, among other areas of service to the environment and conservation field.
RECENT RESEARCH (Selected):
Accelerating 30x30 Through a Collaborative Regional Prioritization Partnership
With support from the SDSS Accelerator
PI: Liz Hadly; co-PIs Nicole Ardoin, Debbie Sivas
Empowering Youth in Frontline Communities through Climate Data
PI: Victor Lee; co-PIs Nicole Ardoin, Jenny Suckale
A Social Science/Sustainability Incubator: Interdisciplinary scholarship and practice to amplify impact and redefine solutions
With support from Stanford’s Sustainability Initiative
PI: Nicole Ardoin; co-PI: James H. Jones
Tracking Socio-Ecological Recovery after Forest Fire: The Case of Big Basin
With support from: Digital Learning Initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning
The Summen Project: Coastal Fog-mediated Interactions Between Climate Change, Upwelling, and Coast Redwood Resilience
With support from NSF Coastal SEES Program, the National Geographic Society, and the TELOS Fund
In partnership with UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Carnegie, Oregon State University
Scholars and Land-Trust Managers Collaborating for Solutions
With support from Realizing Environmental Innovations Projects (REIP), Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
PI: Nicole Ardoin; co-PI: Deborah Gordon
Community and Collective Environmental Literacy as a Motivator for Participating in Environmental Stewardship
With support from the Pisces Foundation
Hybrid Physical and Digital Spaces for Enhanced Sustainability and Wellbeing
WIth support from Stanford Catalyst for Collaborative Solutions
PI: Sarah Billington, Civil and Environmental Engineering; co-PIs Nicole Ardoin, James Landay, Hazel Markus
Blue Habits: Leveraging Behavioral Science to Support Pro-Ocean Behaviors
With support from The Oceanic Society
eeWorks: Examining the body of evidence for environmental education with regard to conservation, academic outcomes, civic engagement, and positive youth development
With support from the North American Association for Environmental Education, US EPA, Fish and Wildlife Service, and others -
Kevin Arrigo
Donald and Donald M. Steel Professor of Earth Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
On Leave from 04/01/2025 To 06/30/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsInvestigates role of ocean biology in gobal carbon and nutrient cycles.
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Khalid Aziz
Otto N. Miller Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOptimization and reservoir Simulation.
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Jeremy Bailenson
Thomas More Storke Professor, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Education
BioJeremy Bailenson is founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication, Professor (by courtesy) of Education, Professor (by courtesy) Program in Symbolic Systems, and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication for over a decade. He earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1994 and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University in 1999. He spent four years at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and then an Assistant Research Professor.
Bailenson studies the psychology of Virtual and Augmented Reality, in particular how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. His lab builds and studies systems that allow people to meet in virtual space, and explores the changes in the nature of social interaction. His most recent research focuses on how virtual experiences can transform education, environmental conservation, empathy, and health. He is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Stanford. In 2020, IEEE recognized his work with “The Virtual/Augmented Reality Technical Achievement Award”.
He has published more than 200 academic papers, spanning the fields of communication, computer science, education, environmental science, law, linguistics, marketing, medicine, political science, and psychology. His work has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation for over 25 years.
His first book Infinite Reality, co-authored with Jim Blascovich, emerged as an Amazon Best-seller eight years after its initial publication, and was quoted by the U.S. Supreme Court. His new book, Experience on Demand, was reviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Nature, and The Times of London, and was an Amazon Best-seller.
He has written opinion pieces for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Wired, National Geographic, Slate, The San Francisco Chronicle, TechCrunch, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and has produced or directed six Virtual Reality documentary experiences which were official selections at the Tribeca Film Festival. His lab has exhibited VR in hundreds of venues ranging from The Smithsonian to The Superbowl. -
Zhenan Bao
K. K. Lee Professor, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering and of Chemistry
BioZhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, and with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. She is also an affiliated faculty member of Precourt Institute, Woods Institute, ChEM-H and Bio-X. Professor Bao received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995 and joined the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She became a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2001. Professor Bao currently has more than 700 refereed publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 226.
Bao is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Bao was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2021. She is a Fellow of AAAS, ACS, MRS, SPIE, ACS POLY and ACS PMSE.
Bao is a member of the Board of Directors for the Camille and Dreyfus Foundation from 2022. She served as a member of Executive Board of Directors for the Materials Research Society and Executive Committee Member for the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society. She was an Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Science, Polymer Reviews and Synthetic Metals. She serves on the international advisory board for Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Nano, Accounts of Chemical Reviews, Advanced Functional Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Journal of American Chemical Society, Nature Asian Materials, Materials Horizon and Materials Today. She co-founded C3 Nano Co. and PyrAmes, which have produced products used in commercial smartphones and hospitals, respectively. Multiple inventions from her lab have been licensed and served as foundational technologies for several additional start-ups.
Bao was a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials 2022, MRS Mid-Career Award in 2021, AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award 2021, ACS Central Science Disruptor and Innovator Prize in 2020, ACS Gibbs Medal in 2020, the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Federal Minister of Science in 2018, the L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award North America Laureate in 2017. She was awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award in 2017, ACS Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 2013 ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2011. She is a recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize in 2009, IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize in 2008, American Chemical Society Team Innovation Award 2001, R&D 100 Award, and R&D Magazine Editors Choice Best of the Best new technology for 2001. -
William Barnett
Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business Leadership, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBarnett studies how organizations are responding to the challenge of environmental sustainability. He is now establishing research sites around the world, investigating a number of areas where organizational adaptation is key, including: the proliferation of climate tech start ups, issues around environmental justice, the challenge of climate migration, and the urgent need to preserve the world's rainforests.
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Michele Barry, MD, FACP
Drs. Ben & A. Jess Shenson Professor, Senior Associate Dean, Global Health, Director, Center for Innovation in Global Health, Professor of Medicine and Senior Fellow at Woods
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAreas of research
Ethical Aspects of research conducted overseas
Clinical Tropical Diseases
Globalization's Impact upon Health Disparities
Human and Planetary Heath
Women Leadership -
Eran Bendavid
Professor of Medicine (Primary Care and Population Health), of Health Policy, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEffect of global health policies on health of individuals in developing countries, global health, HIV and TB.
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Sally Benson
Precourt Family Professor, Professor of Energy Science Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research is focused on reducing the risks of climate change by developing energy supplies with low carbon emissions. Students and post-doctoral fellows in my research group work on carbon dioxide storage, energy systems analysis, and pathways for transitioning to a low-carbon energy system.
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Stacey Bent
Jagdeep & Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Eng, Professor of Energy Science and Eng, Senior Fellow at Precourt & Prof, by courtesy, of Electrical Eng, Materials Sci Eng & Chemistry
BioThe research in the Bent laboratory is focused on understanding and controlling surface and interfacial chemistry and applying this knowledge to a range of problems in semiconductor processing, micro- and nano-electronics, nanotechnology, and sustainable and renewable energy. Much of the research aims to develop a molecular-level understanding in these systems, and hence the group uses of a variety of molecular probes. Systems currently under study in the group include functionalization of semiconductor surfaces, mechanisms and control of atomic layer deposition, molecular layer deposition, nanoscale materials for light absorption, interface engineering in photovoltaics, catalyst and electrocatalyst deposition.
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Sarah Billington
UPS Foundation Professor, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioMy research program focuses on the impact of sustainable building design and materials on human wellbeing. This work includes developing design tools to quantify nature experience in buildings, understanding and increasing wellbeing in and through affordable housing, and identifying the risk of forced labor in building material supply chains through fingerprinting and AI methods. The goal of my research program is to provide building occupants, designers, and owners tools to achieve built environments that meet their needs for environmental and social sustainability and to design interventions that support human wellbeing over time while preserving privacy. While no longer active in this area, my group has a long history of expertise in the design and evaluation of sustainable, durable construction materials including bio-based composites and ductile cement-based composites.
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Christine Black
Director of Communications, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordDirector of Communications, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
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Brian Blackburn
Clinical Professor, Medicine - Infectious Diseases
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy interests include parasitology and global health; I've investigated cryptosporidium and angiostrongylus outbreaks; schistosoma/strongyloides seroprevalence in refugees, and the distribution and impact of ITNs for malaria and filariasis prevention in Nigeria and India. I have done clinical and programmatic work at teaching hospitals in Liberia and Bangladesh and have opportunities for research in Bangladesh and Kenya, in collaboration with ICDDR,B and CDC, Kenya
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Barbara Block
Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
On Leave from 04/01/2025 To 06/30/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology and tuna biology
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Alexandria Boehm
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioI am interested in pathogens in the environment including their sources, fate, and transport in natural and engineered systems. I am interested in understanding of how pathogens are transmitted to humans through contact with water, feces, and contaminated surfaces. My research is focused on key problems in both developed and developing countries with the overarching goal of designing and testing novel interventions and technologies for reducing the burden of disease.
I am also interested broadly in coastal water quality where my work addresses the sources, transformation, transport, and ecology of biocolloids - specifically fecal indicator organisms, DNA, pathogens, and phytoplankton - as well as sources and fate of nitrogen. This knowledge is crucial to formulating new management policies and engineering practices that protect human and ecosystem health at the coastal margins. -
Donna M. Bouley, DVM, PhD
Professor of Comparative Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests: ocular pathology, host-pathogen interactions in infectious disease, infectious disease in frogs, phenotypic characterization of tg and ko mice, histopathology of minimally-invasive radiological ablation techniques (focused ultrasound, cryoablation).
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Gordon Brown
Dorrell William Kirby Professor of Geology in the School of Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSurface and interface geochemistry; environmental fate of heavy metals; nanotechnology, applications of synchrotron radiation in geochemistry and mineralogy
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Katherine Burke
Affiliate, Human and Planetary Health
Visiting Scholar, Human and Planetary HealthBioKathy Burke is a Senior Advisor and Lecturer at the Human and Planetary Health initiative in the Doerr School for Sustainability and a Senior Advisor to the Center for Innovation in Global Health. She is a co-instructor in SUSTAIN 103 Human and Planetary Health. She works across campus advancing the field of human and planetary health, setting strategy, creating and advising teams, and bringing new voices to campus.
In 2019-20 she was a Distinguished Career Institute Fellow, studying climate impacts on health.
From 2015-19, she served as Deputy Director of Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, where she co-created and led the inaugural Women Leaders in Global Health conference in 2017 and the international Planetary Health Alliance Annual Meeting in 2019, both hosted at Stanford. She co-founded WomenLIFT, an innovative leadership training program for mid-career professionals around the world, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Ms. Burke spent 15 years as a reporter, editor and publishing executive. She earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Master of Science in Global Health Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco.
Kathy enjoys working at the interfaces of disciplines and sectors and creating cross-cutting teams to address big social problems. Ms. Burke serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and the Advisory Council for Stanford University Libraries. -
Marshall Burke
Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, at the Woods Institute for the Environment, at SIEPR and Associate Professor, by courtesy of Earth System Science
BioMarshall Burke is an associate professor in Global Environmental Policy unit in the Doerr School of Sustainability, deputy director at the Center on Food Security and the Environment, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Woods Institute, and SIEPR at Stanford University. He is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a co-founder of AtlasAI, a remote sensing start-up. His research focuses on social and economic impacts of environmental change and on measuring and understanding economic development in emerging markets. His work has appeared in both economic and scientific journals, including recent publications in Nature, Science, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and The Lancet. He holds a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in international relations from Stanford University.
Prospective students should see my personal webpage, linked at right. -
Bodie Cabiyo
Social Sci Res Scholar
BioBodie uses interdisciplinary approaches to investigate nature-based solutions to climate change. He currently studies how policy and innovative technology can enable carbon-beneficial forest management. This work bridges industrial ecology, forest economics, and forest ecology. His modeling work has focused on the role of innovative wood use in reducing carbon emissions, both in California and East Africa. His applied policy work focuses on improving forest carbon offset protocols. The intent of this work is to promote the more credible translation of carbon dioxide removals to a market context. Bodie also has latent interests in the social aspects of technology adoption, short-lived climate pollutants, and soil carbon storage.
Bodie completed his PhD in the UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group in 2022, where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Bodie will usually abandon his desk after snow storms in the Sierras, or just on sunny afternoons when he’d rather be trail running. -
Bruce Cain
Charles Louis Ducommun Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, at SIEPR, at the Precourt Institute for Energy & Professor of Environmental Social Sciences
BioBruce E. Cain is a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. He received a BA from Bowdoin College (1970), a B Phil. from Oxford University (1972) as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph D from Harvard University (1976). He taught at Caltech (1976-89) and UC Berkeley (1989-2012) before coming to Stanford. Professor Cain was Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley from 1990-2007 and Executive Director of the UC Washington Center from 2005-2012. He was elected the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000 and has won awards for his research (Richard F. Fenno Prize, 1988), teaching (Caltech 1988 and UC Berkeley 2003) and public service (Zale Award for Outstanding Achievement in Policy Research and Public Service, 2000). His areas of expertise include political regulation, applied democratic theory, representation and state politics. Some of Professor Cain’s most recent publications include “Malleable Constitutions: Reflections on State Constitutional Design,” coauthored with Roger Noll in University of Texas Law Review, volume 2, 2009; “More or Less: Searching for Regulatory Balance,” in Race, Reform and the Political Process, edited by Heather Gerken, Guy Charles and Michael Kang, CUP, 2011; “Redistricting Commissions: A Better Political Buffer?” in The Yale Law Journal, volume 121, 2012; and Democracy More or Less (CUP, 2015). He is currently working on problems of environmental governance.
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Brian Cantwell
Edward C. Wells Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus
BioProfessor Cantwell's research interests are in the area of turbulent flow. Recent work has centered in three areas: the direct numerical simulation of turbulent shear flows, theoretical studies of the fine-scale structure of turbulence, and experimental measurements of turbulent structure in flames. Experimental studies include the development of particle-tracking methods for measuring velocity fields in unsteady flames and variable density jets. Research in turbulence simulation includes the development of spectral methods for simulating vortex rings, the development of topological methods for interpreting complex fields of data, and simulations of high Reynolds number compressible and incompressible wakes. Theoretical studies include predictions of the asymptotic behavior of drifting vortex pairs and vortex rings and use of group theoretical methods to study the nonlinear dynamics of turbulent fine-scale motions. Current projects include studies of fast-burning fuels for hybrid propulsion and decomposition of nitrous oxide for space propulsion.
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Karen Casciotti
Associate Dean for Facilities and Shared Labs, Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor in Oceans and ESS, focus on marine chemistry and biogeochemistry.
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Page Chamberlain
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
I use stable and radiogenic isotopes to understand Earth system history. These studies examine the link between climate, tectonics, biological, and surface processes. Projects include: 1) examining the terrestrial climate history of the Earth focusing on periods of time in the past that had CO 2-levels similar to the present and to future projections; and 2) addressing how the chemical weathering of the Earth's crust affects both the long- and short-term carbon cycle. Field areas for these studies are in the Cascades, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, the European Alps, Tibet and the Himalaya and the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
International Collaborations
Much of the research that I do has an international component. Specifically, I have collaborations with: 1) the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt Germany as a Humboldt Fellow and 2) the Chinese University of Geosciences in Bejiing China where I collaborate with Professor Yuan Gao.
Teaching
I teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in isotope biogeochemistry, Earth system history, and the relationship between climate, surface processes and tectonics.
Professional Activities
Editor American Journal of Science; Co-Director Stanford Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory (present);Chair, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences (2004-07); Co-Director Stanford/USGS SHRIMP Ion microprobe facility (2001-04) -
Bruce Clemens
Walter B. Reinhold Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus and Academic Secretary to the University
BioClemens studies growth and structure of thin film, interface and nanostructured materials for catalytic, electronic and photovoltaic applications. He and his group investigate phase transitions and kinetics in nanostructured materials, and perform nanoparticle engineering for hydrogen storage and catalysis. Recently he and his collaborators have developed nano-portals for efficient injection of hydrogen into storage media, dual-phase nanoparticles for catalysis, amorphous metal electrodes for semiconductor devices, and a lift-off process for forming free-standing, single-crystal films of compound semiconductors.
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Collin Closek
Basic Life Scientist
BioI am a Staff Scientist at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions. My research focuses on optimizing molecular and computational tools to address ecological and evolutionary questions. I have published in the areas of environmental change, ocean health, biodiversity, disease, eDNA, -omics, and aquaculture. I hold a B.S. in Biology from the University of Georgia, began my doctoral studies at the University of California, Merced, and earned my Ph.D. at Penn State. I completed two postdoctoral appointments, first as a joint-postdoctoral researcher at University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and University of Maryland's Institute for Marine and Environmental Technology. Second, I completed advanced collaborative training as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment in conjunction with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. I enjoy exploring and teaching about the natural world, its diversity, complexities, and the challenges faced by our environment.
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Sara Constantino
Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Sciences and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioSara Constantino is an assistant professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability in the Department of Environmental Social Sciences and a visiting research scholar at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. She is also a faculty affiliate at SPARQ and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute. She has an interdisciplinary background at the intersection of economics, psychology, and environmental policy and politics. Her research focuses on understanding the interplay between individual, collective, institutional and ecological factors, including how they shape preferences, decisions, experiences and resilience to extreme events or shocks. In recent and ongoing studies, she is looking at the role of polarization, social norms and governance in stimulating or stifling climate action, including both adaptation and mitigation, and what conditions lead groups mobilize to shape policy and other outcomes. She also works on the impacts and politics of guaranteed income and other cash transfer programs. Prior to starting at Stanford, she was an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University and an associate research scholar at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Before this, she was a senior research fellow in guaranteed income with the Jain Family Institute, a founding editor at Nature Human Behavior, and a research coordinator with the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from McGill University, a master’s degree in economics from University College London, a Ph.D. in cognitive and decision sciences from New York University, and did a postdoc focused on environmental policy, politics and decision-making at Princeton University.
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Craig Criddle
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCriddle's interests include microbial biotechnology for the circular economy, including recovery of clean water from used water, renewable energy, valuable materials that can replace fossil-carbon derived materials. Current projects include energy-efficient anaerobic wastewater treatment technology, assessment of new treatment trains that yield high quality water; fossil carbon plastics biodegradation, and biotechnology for production of bioplastics that can replace fossil carbon plastics.
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Larry Crowder
Edward Ricketts Provostial Professor, Professor of Oceans, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Biology and of Environmental Social Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcology, conservation, fisheries, protected species, ecosystem-based management
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Yi Cui
Fortinet Founders Professor, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Energy Science and Engineering, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at Woods, at Precourt and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemistry
BioCui studies fundamentals and applications of nanomaterials and develops tools for their understanding. Research Interests: nanotechnology, batteries, electrocatalysis, wearables, 2D materials, environmental technology (water, air, soil), cryogenic electron microscopy.
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Gretchen C. Daily
Bing Professor of Environmental Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLand use, biodiversity dynamics, ecosystem services
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Barnabas Daru
Assistant Professor of Biology and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioBarnabas Daru is an Assistant Professor of Biology. He is interested in the ecology and biogeography of plants across ecological scales. He studied botany in Johannesburg, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, where he worked on new uses of herbarium specimens for understanding plant ecology and evolution in the Anthropocene, the epoch of profound human impact on Earth. Current research in the Daru lab addresses the role of phylogeny in: 1) understanding how species are distributed, 2) conserving unique communities, and 3) understanding changing distributions in the Anthropocene.
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Reinhold Dauskardt
Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor in the School of Engineering
BioDauskardt and his group have worked extensively on integrating new materials into emerging technologies including thin-film structures for nanoscience and energy technologies, high-performance composite and laminates for aerospace, and on biomaterials and soft tissues in bioengineering. His group has pioneered methods for characterizing adhesion and cohesion of thin films used extensively in device technologies. His research on wound healing has concentrated on establishing a biomechanics framework to quantify the mechanical stresses and biologic responses in healing wounds and define how the mechanical environment affects scar formation. Experimental studies are complimented with a range of multiscale computational capabilities. His research includes interaction with researchers nationally and internationally in academia, industry, and clinical practice.
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Jenna Davis
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, of Environmental Social Sciences and Higgins-Magid Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor Davis’ research and teaching deals broadly with the role that water plays in promoting public health and economic development, with particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries. Her group conducts applied research that utilizes theory and analytical methods from public and environmental health, engineering, microeconomics, and planning. They have conducted field research in more than 20 countries, most recently including Zambia, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
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Giulio De Leo
Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am a theoretical ecologist mostly interested in investigating factors and processes driving the dynamics of natural and harvested populations and on how to use this knowledge to inform practical management. I have worked broadly on life histories analysis, fishery management, dynamics and control of infectious diseases and environmental impact assessment.
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Noah Diffenbaugh
Kara J Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Noah S. Diffenbaugh is an Editor of the peer-review journal Geophysical Research Letters, and a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a recipient of the James R. Holton Award from the American Geophysical Union, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and a Terman Fellowship from Stanford University. He has also been recognized as a Kavli Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and as a Google Science Communication Fellow.
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Rodolfo Dirzo
Associate Dean for Integrative Initiatives in Environmental Justice, Bing Prof in Environmental Science, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological and evolutionary aspects of plant-animal interactions, largely but not exclusively, in tropical forest ecosystems.
Conservation biology in tropical ecosystems.
Studies on biodiversity.
Education, at all levels, on scientific practice, ecology and biodiversity conservation. -
James Douglass
Software Architect, Woods Research Natural Capital Project
BioJames Douglass (he/him) is the Software Architect for the Natural Capital Project. His current work focuses on expanding access to InVEST through better tooling in heterogeneous compute and development environments, supporting research efforts and identifying and prototyping impactful improvements to NatCap's Science and Technology offerings. In previous roles with NatCap, James has led the technical strategy of InVEST, led the development of OPAL, and previously served as lead of the Software Team. James received his B.S in Computer Science from St. Lawrence University.
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Rob Dunbar
W.M. Keck Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOcean processes, biogeochemistry, climatology/paleoclimatology, isotopic chemistry, ocean policy
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William Durham
Bing Professor in Human Biology, Emeritus
BioWilliam (Bill) Durham is Bing Professor in Human Biology (Emeritus), Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, and a Senior Fellow (Emeritus) in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. He has been jointly appointed in Human Biology and Anthropology at Stanford since 1977, when he came from the Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan. Bill was an undergraduate Biology major at Stanford, Class of 1971, and received the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award at graduation for his contribution to undergraduate education via the NSF-funded Student Air Pollution Research Project, the first student initiative nationally to receive NSF funding.
Bill’s career has focused on two main themes: (1) putting principles of evolution to work in efforts to sustain the biological and cultural diversity of our world; and (2) identifying social dimensions of environmental problems in Latin America and working with local leaders to help solve them. He has carried out fieldwork in Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador (especially Galápagos) in South America, and in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica in Central America. In 1983, he was one of the first scholars to receive the MacArthur Prize Fellowship and has also received five five awards for research and teaching at Stanford, including one by vote of the students. Bill’s recent book, Exuberant Life: An Evolutionary Approach to Conservation in Galápagos (Oxford University Press, 2021) was named a Finalist for the 2022 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers.
Bill’s other publications include the books Scarcity and Survival in Central America (Stanford Press 1979; and in Spanish, by UCA Editores 1988), Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity (Stanford Press, 1991), The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America (U. of Michigan Press, 1995, with M. Painter), Inbreeding, Incest and the Incest Taboo (Stanford Press 2004, with A. Wolf), and Ecotourism and Conservation in the Americas (CABI, 2008, with A. Stronza). In addition, he served as Editor in Chief for 16 volumes of the Annual Review of Anthropology between 1992 and 2008.
Bill was Founding Co-Director of the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), a research organization that views tourism as a means to promote local livelihoods and environmental conservation. Along with Stanford Professors Rodolfo Dirzo and Larry Crowder, Bill has been Co-director of the Osa-Golfito Initiative (INOGO) in the Woods Institute, working with Costa Ricans to develop a sustainability strategy for the southern region of the country.
He has led more than 35 Stanford Alumni Association trips to Galápagos, Costa Rica, the Amazon, East Africa, and elsewhere. -
Louis Durlofsky
Otto N. Miller Professor in the School of Earth Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGeneral reservoir simulation, optimization, reduced-order modeling, upscaling, flow in fractured systems, history matching, CO2 sequestration, energy systems optimization
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Paul Ehrlich
Bing Professor of Population Studies, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe role of the social sciences in dealing with global change
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Kathleen Eisenhardt
Stanford W. Ascherman, M.D. Professor in the School of Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTheoretical approaches: Cognition, complexity, learning, and organizational theories
Methods: Multi-case Theory Building as well as machine learning, simulation, and econometrics
Recent research: Business model design, strategy as "simple rules" heuristics, strategic interaction in novel markets and ecosystems, strategy in marketplaces, communities v. firm organizational forms -
Stefano Ermon
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
On Partial Leave from 10/01/2024 To 06/30/2025BioI am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, where I am affiliated with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and a fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment.
My research is centered on techniques for scalable and accurate inference in graphical models, statistical modeling of data, large-scale combinatorial optimization, and robust decision making under uncertainty, and is motivated by a range of applications, in particular ones in the emerging field of computational sustainability. -
W Gary Ernst
The Benjamin M. Page Professor in Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPetrology/geochemistry and plate tectonics of Circumpacific and Alpine mobile belts; ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in Eurasia; geology of the California Coast Ranges, the cental Klamath Mountains, and White-Inyo Range; geobotany and remote sensing of the American Southwest; mineralogy and human health.
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Walter Falcon
Senior Fellow, Emeritus, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsbiotechnology; food security; food and agricultural policy in developing countries
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Marcus Feldman
Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHuman genetic and cultural evolution, mathematical biology, demography of China
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Stephen Felt, DVM, MPH
Professor of Comparative Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHis research interests include infectious diseases, particularly zoonoses, and exploring techniques which promote the health and welfare of laboratory animals.
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Scott Fendorf
Terry Huffington Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Integrative Initiatives, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor of Photon Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSoil and environmental biogeochemistry
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Chris Field
Melvin and Joan Lane Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment & Professor of Earth System Science, of Biology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute and at the Precourt Institute
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My field is climate-change science, and my research emphasizes human-ecological interactions across many disciplines. Most studies include aspects of ecology, but also aspects of law, sociology, medicine, or engineering. -
Sarah Fletcher
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Fletcher Lab aims to advance water resources management to promote resilient and equitable responses to a changing world.
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Christopher Francis
Professor of Earth System Science, of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMicrobial cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and metals in the environment; molecular geomicrobiology; marine microbiology; microbial diversity; meta-omics
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Nicole Franz
Research Scholar
BioNicole Franz (she/her) is an expert in the political economy of sustainable development. She has over two decades of experience working in intergovernmental organizations, namely the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
As leader of the equitable livelihoods team in FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Nicole focused on advancing global sustainability policy, making policy processes more inclusive, and empowering stakeholders.
Her role and leadership in the development and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication cemented her dedication to bringing together responsible natural resource use with social development. She spearheaded efforts to embed these guidelines into national, regional, and global policy processes and initiatives relating to fisheries, food security, climate change, and biodiversity.
Also during her tenure at FAO, Nicole kickstarted the Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative to generate and disseminate new evidence about the benefits, interactions, and impacts of small-scale fisheries to inform policy and practice.
Beyond her policy and research contributions, Nicole is a deeply committed mentor and capacity-builder. Over the past decade, she has supervised and mentored approximately 20 early-career scientists, interns, and young professionals and served as a guest lecturer. -
Oliver Fringer
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Oceans
BioFringer's research focuses on the development and application of numerical models and high-performance computational techniques to the study of fundamental processes that influence the dynamics of the coastal ocean, rivers, lakes, and estuaries.
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Angela Garcia
Professor of Anthropology
BioProfessor Garcia’s work engages historical and institutional processes through which violence and suffering are produced and lived. A central theme is the disproportionate burden of addiction, depression and incarceration among poor families and communities. Her research is oriented toward understanding how attachments, affect, and practices of intimacy are important registers of politics and economy.
Garcia’s most recent book is The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024). Set in Mexico City, it examines how violence precedes and functions in the ways families seek to care for and protect each other. Central to this work are anexos (annexes), informal and coercive rehabilitation clinics for the treatment of drug addiction that are run and utilized by the working poor, and which incorporate violence into their therapeutic practices. Anexos are widespread across Mexico (and increasingly in the United States) and are widely condemned as abusive, illegal, ineffective, and unethical. By situating anexos within a larger social and historical frame, and closely attending to life within and beyond these spaces, Garcia shows that anexos provide refuge from the catastrophic and everyday violence associated with the drug war. The book also demonstrates that anexos are the leading resource for the treatment of drug addiction among Mexico’s poor, and are an essential space of protection for individuals at risk of the intensifying violence in Mexico.
Garcia's first book, The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession Along The Rio Grande (University of California Press, 2010) received awards in anthropology and writing. The Pastoral Clinic explores the relationship between intergenerational heroin use, poverty and colonial history in northern New Mexico. It argues that heroin addiction among Hispanos is a contemporary expression of an enduring history of dispossession, social and intimate fragmentation, and the existential desire for a release from these. Ongoing work in the U.S. explores processes of legal “re-entry” and intimate repair that incarcerated and paroled drug users undertake, particularly within kin networks.
Currently, Garcia is studying the environmental, social, and bodily effects resulting from Mexico City’s ongoing desagüe, the massive drainage project initiated by Spanish colonists in the seventeenth century in the Valley of Mexico. Mexico City’s desagüe speaks to some of the most pressing concerns of our time: water scarcity, humans’ relationship to changing ecologies, and chronic disease. This project examines how the desagüe remakes bodies, neighborhoods, and social worlds. -
Christopher Gardner
Rehnborg Farquhar Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe role of nutrition in individual and societal health, with particular interests in: plant-based diets, differential response to low-carb vs. low-fat weight loss diets by insulin resistance status, chronic disease prevention, randomized controlled trials, human nutrition, community based studies, Community Based Participatory Research, sustainable food movement (animal rights and welfare, global warming, human labor practices), stealth health, nutrition policy, nutrition guidelines
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William Gilly
Professor of Oceans
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy work has contributed to understanding electrical excitability in nerve & muscle in organisms ranging from brittle-stars to mammals. Current research addresses behavior, physiology and ecology of squid through field and lab approaches. Electronic tagging plus in situ video, acoustic and oceanographic methods are used to study behaviors and life history in the field. Lab work focuses on control of chromogenic behavior by the chromatophore network and of locomotion by the giant axon system.
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Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert
Professor of Health Policy
BioJeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD, is a Professor of Health Policy and a Core Faculty Member in the Centers for Health Policy and Primary Care and Outcomes Research. His research focuses on complex policy decisions surrounding the prevention and management of increasingly common, chronic diseases and the life course impact of exposure to their risk factors. In the context of both developing and developed countries including the US, India, China, and South Africa, he has examined chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, human papillomavirus and cervical cancer, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C and on risk factors including smoking, physical activity, obesity, malnutrition, and other diseases themselves. He combines simulation modeling methods and cost-effectiveness analyses with econometric approaches and behavioral economic studies to address these issues. Dr. Goldhaber-Fiebert graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1997, with an A.B. in the History and Literature of America. After working as a software engineer and consultant, he conducted a year-long public health research program in Costa Rica with his wife in 2001. Winner of the Lee B. Lusted Prize for Outstanding Student Research from the Society for Medical Decision Making in 2006 and in 2008, he completed his PhD in Health Policy concentrating in Decision Science at Harvard University in 2008. He was elected as a Trustee of the Society for Medical Decision Making in 2011 and Secretary/Treasurer in 2021.
Past and current research topics:
- Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors: Randomized and observational studies in Costa Rica examining the impact of community-based lifestyle interventions and the relationship of gender, risk factors, and care utilization.
-Cervical cancer: Model-based cost-effectiveness analyses and costing methods studies that examine policy issues relating to cervical cancer screening and human papillomavirus vaccination in countries including the United States, Brazil, India, Kenya, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, and Thailand.
- Measles, haemophilus influenzae type b, and other childhood infectious diseases: Longitudinal regression analyses of country-level data from middle and upper income countries that examine the link between vaccination, sustained reductions in mortality, and evidence of herd immunity.
- Patient adherence: Studies in both developing and developed countries of the costs and effectiveness of measures to increase successful adherence. Adherence to cervical cancer screening as well as to disease management programs targeting depression and obesity is examined from both a decision-analytic and a behavioral economics perspective.
- Simulation modeling methods: Research examining model calibration and validation, the appropriate representation of uncertainty in projected outcomes, the use of models to examine plausible counterfactuals at the biological and epidemiological level, and the reflection of population and spatial heterogeneity. -
Andrea Goldsmith
Stephen Harris Professor in the School of Engineering, Emerita
BioAndrea Goldsmith is the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Princeton University. She was previously the Stephen Harris Professor of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where she is now Harris Professor Emerita. Her research interests are in information theory, communication theory, and signal processing, and their application to wireless communications, interconnected systems, and biomedical devices. She founded and served as Chief Technical Officer of Plume WiFi (formerly Accelera, Inc.) and of Quantenna (QTNA), Inc, and she serves on the Board of Directors for Intel (INTC), Medtronic (MDT), Crown Castle Inc (CCI), and the Marconi Society. She also serves on the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Goldsmith is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and has received several awards for her work, including the Marconi Prize, the ACM Sigmobile Outstanding Contribution Award, the IEEE Sumner Technical Field Award, the ACM Athena Lecturer Award, the ComSoc Armstrong Technical Achievement Award, the Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award, the WICE Mentoring Award, and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award. She is author of the book ``Wireless Communications'' and co-author of the books ``MIMO Wireless Communications,” “Principles of Cognitive Radio,” and “Machine Learning and Wireless Communications,” all published by Cambridge University Press, as well as an inventor on 29 patents. She received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley.
Dr. Goldsmith is the founding Chair of the IEEE Board of Directors Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. She served as President of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 2009, as founding Chair of its Student Committee, and as founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory. She has also served on the Board of Governors for both the IEEE Information Theory and Communications Societies. At Stanford she served as Chair of Stanford’s Faculty Senate and for multiple terms as a Senator, and on its Academic Council Advisory Board, Budget Group, Committee on Research, Planning and Policy Board, Commissions on Graduate and on Undergraduate Education, Faculty Women’s Forum Steering Committee, and Task Force on Women and Leadership. -
Deborah M Gordon
Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor Deborah M Gordon studies the evolutionary ecology of collective behavior. Ant colonies operate without central control, using local interactions to regulate colony behavior.
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Steven Gorelick
Cyrus Fisher Tolman Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly Interests. Research : .
As a hydrologist, my research involves the study of water resources and water security with emphasis on freshwater. I direct the Global Freshwater Initiative, which studies water resources vulnerability problems throughout the world. We investigate the impacts of droughts on water-stressed regions by developing coupled human-natural systems models that explore the effects of climate, land-use, and demographic changes on urban and agricultural regions. We have produced useful tools to aid in sustainable agricultural and urban water management in the western US, Mexico, India, Jordan, and Vietnam. Although driven by observations, our conceptual and quantitative models lead us to rigorous understanding of physical processes, enable us to make predictions, and explore new water management policies, involving taxes, quotas, subsidies, water rights, and water markets. Such models have provided means to better quantify the influence of droughts and floods, particularly on vulnerable communities and then importantly to identify equitable water management strategies. .
. - Teaching :
. I teach courses for graduate and undergraduate students involving principles and methods used in physical and contaminant hydrogeology. In addition, I run a seminar series that exposes students to a variety of multidisciplinary topics involving hydrology and water resources. .
: - Professional Activities :
. 2021-2022 von Humboldt Fellow-Germany, 2022-23 Fulbright Fellow - Distinguished Chair in Science, Technology and Innovation, Australian-American Program, 2016 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014 Best Paper in Environmental Research Letters in 2014 (Padowski and Gorelick, (2014), 2013 Editor's Choice Award, Water Resources Research for paper Srinivasan et al., (2012), Member, US National Academy of Engineering (2012), International Fellow, Institute for Environmental Science and Research (ESR) (2011), New Zealand, Fulbright Senior Scholar (2008-09); Chester C. Keisel Memorial Lecturer, University of Arizona (2008); Best Paper Award in Computers and Geosciences, International Association for Mathematical Geology (2006); fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2005); Stanford representative to the Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences (2005-2008); M. King Hubbert Science Award, NGWA (2004); Ineson Distinguished Lecturer (1998); Fulbright Senior Scholar (1997); O.E. Meinzer Award, GSA (1994) James B. Macelwane medal, AGU (1990); Fellow, GSA (1988) and AGU (1990); Editorial Board, Optimization and Engineering Journal (1990-present); visiting professor, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Ecological Engineering Laboratory (2006); visiting professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, jointly at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (2005); visiting scholar, University of Cambridge, Zoology (2007); visiting scientist, CSIRO, Perth, Australia (2009); Member AGU Water and Society Technical Committee (2011-present) visiting professor, University of Western Australia Centre for Ecohydrology (2012); visiting professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (2013, 2019) -
Mark Granovetter
Joan B. Ford Professor, Emeritus
BioMark Granovetter's main interest is in the way people, social networks and social institutions interact and shape one another. He has written extensively on this subject, including his two most widely cited articles "The Strength of Weak Ties" (1973) and "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness" (1985). In recent years, his focus has been on the social foundations of the economy, and he is working on a book entitled Society and Economy, to be published by Harvard University Press in two volumes. The first volume, Society and Economy: Framework and Principles,appeared in 2017. It is broadly theoretical, treating the role in the economy of social networks, norms, culture, trust, power, and social institutions. The second volume will use this framework to illuminate the study of such important topics as corruption, corporate governance, organizational form and the emergence of new industries such as the American electricity industry and the high-tech industry of Silicon Valley.
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Leonidas Guibas
Paul Pigott Professor of Engineering and Professor, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGeometric and topological data analysis and machine learning. Algorithms for the joint analysis of collections of images, 3D models, or trajectories. 3D reconstruction.
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Elizabeth Hadly
Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology and Professor of Earth System Science, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsElizabeth Hadly and her lab probe how perturbations such as climatic change and human modification of the environment influence the evolution and ecology of animals.
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James Harris
James and Elenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests have been in the areas of new electronic and optoelectronic device structures created by heterojunctions, quantum wells, superlattices and nanostructured materials. Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) has been the foundation to prepare nanostructured structured metastable materials with atomic layer control and dimensions smaller than the wavelength of electrons. In this regime, quantum size effects can be utilized to create entirely new device structures based upon tailored transitions between quantum states and tunneling between states and structures. Past two decades focused on MBE growth of novel optoelectronic materials (GaInNAsSb) for long wavelength lasers and solar cells; quantum well structures for surface emitting lasers, high-power lasers, high speed optical modulators and non-linear optical effects for generation, control and application of ultra-short optical pulses; ultra-high efficiency multi-bandgap solar cells; world record solar to hydrogen conversion with water splitting; Si based photonic devices, including single photon avalanche detector (SPAD) for range finding and autonomous vehicles and implantable retina prosthesis with first human response in phase 1 human trials, 12/17; integrated photonic systems for biomedical detection and applications; integrated nanophotonic structures for laser driven dielectric electron accelerators and free electron lasers (FEL) on a wafer.
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Jerry Harris
The Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Professor in Geophysics, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBiographical Information
Jerry M. Harris is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Geophysics and Associate Dean for the Office of Multicultural Affairs. He joined Stanford in 1988 following 11 years in private industry. He served five years as Geophysics department chair, was the Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Computational Earth and Environmental Science (CEES), and co-launched Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP). Graduates from Jerry's research group, the Stanford Wave Physics Lab, work in private industry, government labs, and universities.
Research
My research interests address the physics and dynamics of seismic and electromagnetic waves in complex media. My approach to these problems includes theory, numerical simulation, laboratory methods, and the analysis of field data. My group, collectively known as the Stanford Wave Physics Laboratory, specializes on high frequency borehole methods and low frequency labratory methods. We apply this research to the characterization and monitoring of petroleum and CO2 storage reservoirs.
Teaching
I teach courses on waves phenomena for borehole geophysics and tomography. I recently introduced and co-taught a new course on computational geosciences.
Professional Activities
I was the First Vice President of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 2003-04, and have served as the Distinguished Lecturer for the SPE, SEG, and AAPG. -
Thomas Heller
Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies, Emeritus
BioAn expert in international law and legal institutions, Thomas C. Heller has focused his research on the rule of law, international climate control, global energy use, and the interaction of government and nongovernmental organizations in establishing legal structures in the developing world. He has created innovative courses on the role of law in transitional and developing economies, as well as the comparative study of law in developed economies. He has co-directed the law school’s Rule of Law Program, as well as the Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law. Professor Heller has been a visiting professor at the European University Institute, Catholic University of Louvain, and Hong Kong University, and has served as the deputy director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, where he is now a senior fellow.
Professor Heller is also a senior fellow (by courtesy) at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1979, he was a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and an attorney-advisor to the governments of Chile and Colombia. -
Martin Hellman
Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus
BioMartin E. Hellman is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and is affiliated with the university's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). His most recent work, "Rethinking National Security," identifies a number of questionable assumptions that are largely taken as axiomatic truths. A key part of that work brings a risk informed framework to a potential failure of nuclear deterrence and then finds surprising ways to reduce the risk. His earlier work included co-inventing public key cryptography, the technology that underlies the secure portion of the Internet. His many honors include election to the National Academy of Engineering and receiving (jointly with his colleague Whit Diffie) the million dollar ACM Turing Award, the top prize in computer science. In 2016, he and his wife of fifty years published "A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home & Peace on the Planet," providing a “unified field theory” for peace by illuminating the connections between nuclear war, conventional war, interpersonal war, and war within our own psyches.
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Lynn Hildemann
Wayne Loel Professor of Sustainability and Senior Associate Dean for Education
BioLynn Hildemann's current research areas include the sources and dispersion of airborne particulate matter indoors, and assessment of human exposure to air pollutants.
Prof. Hildemann received BS, MS, and PhD degrees in environmental engineering science from the California Institute of Technology. She is an author on >100 peer-reviewed publications, including two with over 1000 citations each, and another 6 with over 500 citations each. She has been honored with Young Investigator Awards from NSF and ONR, the Kenneth T. Whitby Award from the AAAR (1998), and Stanford's Gores Award for Teaching Excellence (2013); she also was a co-recipient of Atmospheric Environment’s Haagen-Smit Outstanding Paper Award (2001).
She has served on advisory committees for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and for the California Air Resources Board. She has been an Associate Editor for Environmental Science & Technology, and Aerosol Science and Technology, and has served on the advisory board for the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
At Stanford, Prof. Hildemann has been chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and served as an elected member of the Faculty Senate. She has chaired the School of Engineering Library Committee, the University Committee on Judicial Affairs, and the University Breadth Governance Board. -
Roland Horne
Thomas Davies Barrow Professor and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWell Testing, Optimisation and Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
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Alison Hoyt
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioAlison Hoyt is an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at Stanford. Her work focuses on understanding how biogeochemical cycles respond to human impacts, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable and least understood carbon stocks in the tropics and the Arctic. For more information, please visit her group website here: https://carboncycle.stanford.edu/
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Lily Hsueh
Affiliate, Woods Institute
BioLily Hsueh is an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the School of Public Affairs at the Arizona State University (ASU) and a Visiting Scholar in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Her research investigates how different forms and scales of alternative and decentralized governance systems (e.g., market-based policies and voluntary programs) interact and shape the public and private provision of public goods and the management of natural resources and the environment. Questions of interest to Dr. Hsueh include, will decentralized environmental approaches produce real and sizeable impact? If so, by how much? Under what economic and political conditions do they work? How should they be designed? Who (and which groups) stand to gain or lose?
Funders for Dr. Hsueh's work include the National Research Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. Prior to joining ASU, Dr. Hsueh was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at NOAA. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Management from the University of Washington, a MSc in Economics from University College London, and a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley.
At Woods, Dr. Hsueh is currently completing a MIT Press-contracted book in progress, which investigates the demand for, and supply of, global businesses' climate mitigation and adaptation, across sectors and in rich and poor countries. The book draws on large-N statistical analyses and and illustrative company case studies. It examines the multi-faceted factors across levels of governance and government, which motivate some global businesses but not others to engage in proactive climate action.
https://www.lilyhsueh.com/ -
Gianluca Iaccarino
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsComputing and data for energy, health and engineering
Challenges in energy sciences, green technology, transportation, and in general, engineering design and prototyping are routinely tackled using numerical simulations and physical testing. Computations barely feasible two decades ago on the largest available supercomputers, have now become routine using turnkey commercial software running on a laptop. Demands on the analysis of new engineering systems are becoming more complex and multidisciplinary in nature, but exascale-ready computers are on the horizon. What will be the next frontier? Can we channel this enormous power into an increased ability to simulate and, ultimately, to predict, design and control? In my opinion two roadblocks loom ahead: the development of credible models for increasingly complex multi-disciplinary engineering applications and the design of algorithms and computational strategies to cope with real-world uncertainty.
My research objective is to pursue concerted innovations in physical modeling, numerical analysis, data fusion, probabilistic methods, optimization and scientific computing to fundamentally change our present approach to engineering simulations relevant to broad areas of fluid mechanics, transport phenomena and energy systems. The key realization is that computational engineering has largely ignored natural variability, lack of knowledge and randomness, targeting an idealized deterministic world. Embracing stochastic scientific computing and data/algorithms fusion will enable us to minimize the impact of uncertainties by designing control and optimization strategies that are robust and adaptive. This goal can only be accomplished by developing innovative computational algorithms and new, physics-based models that explicitly represent the effect of limited knowledge on the quantity of interest.
Multidisciplinary Teaching
I consider the classical boundaries between disciplines outdated and counterproductive in seeking innovative solutions to real-world problems. The design of wind turbines, biomedical devices, jet engines, electronic units, and almost every other engineering system requires the analysis of their flow, thermal, and structural characteristics to ensure optimal performance and safety. The continuing growth of computer power and the emergence of general-purpose engineering software has fostered the use of computational analysis as a complement to experimental testing in multiphysics settings. Virtual prototyping is a staple of modern engineering practice! I have designed a new undergraduate course as an introduction to Computational Engineering, covering theory and practice across multidisciplanary applications. The emphasis is on geometry modeling, mesh generation, solution strategy and post-processing for diverse applications. Using classical flow/thermal/structural problems, the course develops the essential concepts of Verification and Validation for engineering simulations, providing the basis for assessing the accuracy of the results.
