Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Showing 151-200 of 245 Results
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Rosamond Naylor
William Wrigley Professor, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute, and at the Freeman Spogli Institute, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch Activities:
My research focuses on the environmental and equity dimensions of intensive food production systems, and the food security dimensions of low-input systems. I have been involved in a number of field-level research projects around the world and have published widely on issues related to climate impacts on agriculture, distributed irrigation systems for diversified cropping, nutrient use and loss in agriculture, biotechnology, aquaculture and livestock production, biofuels development, food price volatility, and food policy analysis.
Teaching Activities:
I teach courses on the world food economy, food and security, aquaculture science and policy, human society and environmental change, and food-water-health linkages. These courses are offered to graduate and undergraduate students through the departments of Earth System Science, Economics, History, and International Relations.
Professional Activities:
William Wrigley Professor of Earth Science (2015 - Present); Professor in Earth System Science (2009-present); Director, Stanford Center on Food Security and the Environment (2005-2018); Associate Professor of Economics by courtesy (2000-present); William Wrigley Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Woods Institute for the Environment (2007-2015); Trustee, The Nature Conservancy CA program (2012-present); Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics in Stockholm (2011-present), for the Aspen Global Change Institute (2011-present), and for the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program (2012-present); Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow in Environmental Science and Public Policy (1999); Pew Fellow in Conservation and the Environment (1994). Associate Editor for the Journal on Food Security (2012-present). Editorial board member for Aquaculture-Environment Interactions (2009-present) and Global Food Security (2012-present). -
Julia Novy
Director, Sustainability Science and Practice Master's Program
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTransformative leadership, systems change, sustainability, resilience.
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Toni Nunes
NatCap Operations Manager, Woods Research Natural Capital Project
BioToni Nunes is the Director, Operations & Strategy at Stanford Center for Clinical Research (SCCR). Toni has worked with SCCR since 2016 and has a passion for improving health locally and globally.
Toni received her Masters in Public Policy with a certificate in nonprofit management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. -
Franklin M. ("Lynn") Orr, Jr.
Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor in Petroleum Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My students and I work to understand the physical mechanisms that control flow of multiphase, multicomponent fluids in the subsurface, using a combination of experiments and theory. The theory part includes numerical simulation of flow in heterogeneous porous rocks and coalbeds, often using streamline approaches, and it also involves solving by analytical methods the differential equations that describe the interactions of complex phase equilibrium and flow (porous rocks containing more than one flowing phase can sometimes act like a chromatograph, separating components as they flow). The experiments are used to test how well the models describe reality. Applications of this work range from enhanced oil and gas recovery to geologic storage of carbon dioxide (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) to the transport of contaminants in aquifers.
Teaching
I teach a courses for graduate students on the mathematics of multiphase, multicomponent flow in porous media and on the thermodynamics of phase behavior. I also teach an undergraduate course on energy for freshmen.
Professional Activities
Member, National Research Council Committee on Subsurface Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rocks, 2013-present, Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame; Member, Division Committee for the Division of Earth and Life Sciences of the National Research Council, 2012-present; Member, Energy Technology Innovation System Working Group, President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, 2010; Member, California Energy Future study committee (2009-2010); Member, NRC Committee on America's Energy Future (2007-2009); co-chair, Workshop on Basic Research Needs for the Geosciences, U.S. Dept. of Energy (2007); IOR Pioneer, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2006); Honorary Doctorate in Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland (2005); member, Advisory Board, Carbon Mitigation Initiative, Princeton University (2004-present); director, Global Climate & Energy Project, Stanford University; member, Faculty Leadership Committee, Stanford Institute for the Environment (2004-05); National Associate of the National Academies (2002); Robert Earl McConnell Award, AIME (2001); election to National Academy of Engineering (2000); member, Board of Directors, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (1999-2008); member, Provost's Committee on the Environment (1995-2004); member, Board of Directors, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (1987-present); Chair, Fellowships for Science and Engineering Advisory Panel, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (1990-present); -
Leonard Ortolano
UPS Foundation Professor of Civil Engineering in Urban and Regional Planning, Emeritus
BioOrtolano is concerned with environmental and water resources policy and planning. His research stresses environmental policy implementation in developing countries and the role of non-governmental organizations in environmental management. His recent interests center on corporate environmental management.
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Khalid Osman
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioKhalid Osman joined the department as an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in autumn of 2022. His research spans the use of mixed quantitative-qualitative methods to assess public perceptions of water infrastructure, water conservation efforts, and the management of existing infrastructure systems to meet the needs of those being served by the systems. He currently is focused on the operationalization of equity in water sector infrastructure, conceptualizing equity in decentralized water and sanitation systems, water affordability, and stakeholder-community engagement in sustainable civil infrastructure systems for achieving environmental justice.
Khalid was the holder of a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Graduate Fellowship and also a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. -
Stephen Palumbi
Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe're interested in ecological, evolutionary, and conservation questions related to marine (and sometimes terrestrial) organisms and ecosystems. We use evolutionary genetics and molecular ecology techniques, and our fieldwork takes us all around the world. Currently, we're studying coral diversity, the adaptive potential of corals in response to climate change, the movement of organisms between marine reserves, genetic changes in abalone in response to environmental.
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Sarina Patel
Program Manager, Policy & Engagement, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordProgram Manager, California Policy & Engagement, Woods Institute
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Ann Patterson
Policy Scholar, Woods Institute
BioAnn Patterson is a policy scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School for Sustainability, where she focuses on issues related to climate and energy.
She recently served as Senior Counselor for California Governor Gavin Newsom, where she advised the Governor regarding the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and emerging energy-sector and insurance issues. She also advised the Governor on policy solutions to stabilize the state’s electric utilities in the wake of the catastrophic 2025 fires, which resulted in enactment of Senate Bill 254 (Becker, 2025). Patterson’s experience led to a focus on the wide-ranging societal and economic consequences of catastrophic wildfires in California and the implications for insurance accessibility and energy affordability.
Until March of 2025, Patterson served as Cabinet Secretary for Governor Newsom, where she oversaw the work of all state agencies and departments within the administration as well as development of the state budget. Prior to her appointment as Cabinet Secretary, Ann served as Governor Newsom’s Legal Affairs Secretary, providing legal advice and counsel to the Governor and the Governor’s office, as well as overseeing litigation to which the Governor or the State of California was a party. She also served as legal counsel to the Governor’s energy team, formed to stabilize the state’s utility sector in the wake of PG&E’s 2019 bankruptcy filing.
Prior to joining the Newsom Administration, Ann was a partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, where she practiced from 2005 until 2018. -
Jonathan Payne
Dorrell William Kirby Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy goal in research is to understand the interaction between environmental change and biological evolution using fossils and the sedimentary rock record. How does environmental change influence evolutionary and ecological processes? And conversely, how do evolutionary and ecological changes affect the physical environment? I work primarily on the marine fossil record over the past 550 million years.
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Kabir Peay
Senior Associate Dean for Education, Director of the Earth Systems Program, Professor of Biology, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab studies the ecological processes that structure natural communities and the links between community structure and the cycling of nutrients and energy through ecosystems. We focus primarily on fungi, as these organisms are incredibly diverse and are the primary agents of carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. By working across multiple scales we hope to build a 'roots-to-biomes' understanding of plant-microbe symbiosis.
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Dmitri Petrov
Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEvolution of genomes and population genomics of adaptation and variation
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Allison Phillips
Managing Director, Human and Planetary Health
Current Role at StanfordManaging Director, Center for Human and Planetary Health, Woods Institute for the Environment
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Madison Pobis
Communications Manager, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordCommunications Manager, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
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Manu Prakash
Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Oceans
BioWe use interdisciplinary approaches including theory and experiments to understand how computation is embodied in biological matter. Examples include cognition in single cell protists and morphological computing in animals with no neurons and origins of complex behavior in multi-cellular systems. Broadly, we invent new tools for studying non-model organisms with significant focus on life in the ocean - addressing fundamental questions such as how do cells sense pressure or gravity? Finally, we are dedicated towards inventing and distributing “frugal science” tools to democratize access to science (previous inventions used worldwide: Foldscope, Abuzz), diagnostics of deadly diseases like malaria and convening global citizen science communities to tackle planetary scale environmental challenges such as mosquito surveillance or plankton surveillance by citizen sailors mapping the ocean in the age of Anthropocene.
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Celia Price
Event and Convening Manager, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordConference Services Manager, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
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Friedrich Prinz
Leonardo Professor, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Materials Science and Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioFritz Prinz is the Leonardo Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy. He also serves as the Director of the Nanoscale Prototyping Laboratory and Faculty Co-director of the NPL-Affiliate Program. A solid-state physicist by training, Prinz leads a group of doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, and visiting scholars who are addressing fundamental issues on energy conversion and storage at the nanoscale. In his Laboratory, a wide range of nano-fabrication technologies are employed to build prototype fuel cells and capacitors with induced topological electronic states. We are testing these concepts and novel material structures through atomic layer deposition, scanning tunneling microscopy, impedance spectroscopy and other technologies. In addition, the Prinz group group uses atomic scale modeling to gain insights into the nature of charge separation and recombination processes. Before coming to Stanford in 1994, he was on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. Prinz earned a PhD in Physics at the University of Vienna.
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Stefan Reichelstein
William R. Timken Professor in the Graduate School of Business, Emeritus
BioStefan Reichelstein is known internationally for his research on the interface of management accounting and economics. Much of his work has addressed issues in cost- and profitability analysis, decentralization, internal pricing and performance measurement. His research projects have spanned analytical models, empirical work and field studies. Reichelstein’s papers have been published consistently in leading management and economic journals. Insights from his research have been applied by a range of corporations and government agencies. In recent years, Reichelstein has also studied the cost competitiveness of low-carbon energy solutions, with a particular focus on solar PV and carbon capture by fossile fuel power plants.
Stefan Reichelstein received his Ph.D. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1984. Prior to that, he completed his undergraduate studies in economics at the University of Bonn in Germany. Over the past 30 years, Reichelstein has served on the faculties of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, the University of Vienna in Austria, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His teaching has spanned financial and managerial accounting courses offered to undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students. In recent years, he has introduced new courses on Sustainability and Clean Energy at the Stanford Business School. Reichelstein’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and a range of private foundations; several of his papers have won “Best-Paper” awards. Reichelstein serves on the editorial boards of several journals; he is also currently an editor of the Review of Accounting Studies and Foundations and Trends in Accounting. Until 2010, he served as the Department Editor for Accounting at Management Science. Professor Reichelstein has been a consultant to select companies and non-profit organizations. He has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Fribourg (2008) and Mannheim (2011). In 2007, Reichelstein was appointed a Honorar-Professor at the University of Vienna. -
Thomas Robinson
The Irving Schulman, M.D. Professor of Child Health, Professor of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Robinson originated the solution-oriented research paradigm and directs the Stanford Solutions Science Lab. He is known for his pioneering obesity prevention and treatment research, including the concept of stealth interventions. His research applies social cognitive models of behavior change to behavioral, social, environmental and policy interventions for children and families in real world settings, making the results relevant for informing clinical and public health practice and policy.
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Terry L Root
Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsImpacts of climate change on wild plants and animals including extinction
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Lea Rosenbohm
Director, Policy & Engagement, Woods Institute
Current Role at StanfordDirector, Policy & Engagement
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Scott Rozelle
Helen C. Farnsworth Professor of International Agricultural Policy and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThemes related to China, especially agricultural policy, the emergence and evolution of markets and other economic institutions, and the economics of poverty and inequality.
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Rita Sader
Director, Finance and 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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Brady Seals
Director, Electrification for Health, Human and Planetary Health
Current Role at StanfordDirector, Electrification for Health
Center for Human and Planetary Health
Woods Institute for the Environment
Doerr School of Sustainability -
Krish Seetah
Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, 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. -
Elizabeth Selig, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Center for Ocean Solutions, Center for Ocean Solutions
BioElizabeth Selig works at the intersection of environmental and social sustainability in marine ecosystems. Her current research focuses on understanding social-ecological feedbacks in ocean health, marine resource conflicts, and patterns in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and labor abuses in fisheries. Selig received her Ph.D. in ecology at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Her dissertation focused on how global climate change may affect coral reef health and management strategies that can help mitigate coral loss. She has more than ten years of experience working with international non-governmental organizations including Conservation International, where she was the Senior Director of Marine Science. She has also worked at the Smithsonian Institution and the World Resources Institute.
Selig is part of the core team behind the Blue Food Assessment, an international scientific assessment of the contribution of aquatic foods to human nutrition and environmental impacts, with a focus on equity and environmental vulnerability of production. For the last several years, she has also been a part of the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) science team. She was a lead author on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment and is part of the International Science Advisory Council for the Stockholm Resilience Centre. -
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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Talya Shragai
Research and Program Manager, Disease Ecology in a Changing World, Human and Planetary Health
Current Role at StanfordResearch and Program Manager - Disease Ecology in a Changing World
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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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Harshit Singh
Research Assistant, Woods Research Natural Capital Project
Staff, Woods Research Natural Capital ProjectBioHarshit Singh is an AI Researcher and Engineer working across generative AI, agentic systems, and environmental modeling. He is currently working on the Natural Capital Project at Stanford, where he develops LLM-driven workflows for the InVEST ecosystem to enhance automation, data integration, and sustainable development research. He is also building HarshanAI, an emotionally intelligent voice-AI companion.
Previously, he worked at Amazon Web Services, contributing to Bedrock Flows and AgentCore for large-scale generative AI systems and at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, leading DiffuseKronA as first author and advancing parameter-efficient methods for personalized diffusion models. He has also supported climate and energy research at the Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland through the development of G-MAST, a global methane abatement solutions database. His work emphasizes practical innovation, scalable AI systems, and applying machine learning to real-world societal and sustainability challenges.
