Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Showing 81-100 of 229 Results
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Deborah M Gordon
Professor of 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 hydrogeologist and hydrologist, my research involves the study of water resources and water security with emphasis on freshwater. Using lab and field data, our aim is to develop an understanding of fundamental aspects of the transport of water and contaminants, and to investigate regional water resources systems. We have developed simulation-based planning tools to aid in sustainable agricultural and urban water management in the US, Mexico, India, and Jordan. With my colleagues, we have initiated the Global Freshwater Initiative, which studies water resources vulnerability problems throughout the world. During the past 15 years, our field investigations have focused on the interactions between groundwater and patterns of vegetation in studies of both meadow and salt-marsh ecohydrology. Scales of physical processes of interest extend from the domain of small pores to vast regional subsurface flow environments. Although driven by observations and data, we develop conceptual and quantitative models to rigorously understand physical processes, make predictions, and explore the impacts of new water management policies, such as taxes, quota, and markets. Such models enhance our understanding of groundwater flow behavior and provide the means to better manage water resources. .
. - 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. .
: - 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
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, Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Earth and Planetary Sciences
On Leave from 10/01/2023 To 06/30/2024Current 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
BioHarris utilizes molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of III-V compound semiconductor materials to investigate new materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices. He utilizes heterojunctions, superlattices, quantum wells, and three-dimensional self-assembled quantum dots to create metastable engineered materials with novel or improved properties for electronic and optoelectronic devices. His early work in the 1970's demonstrating a practical heterojunction bipolar transistor led to their application in every mobile phone today and record setting solar cell efficiency. He has recently focused on three areas: 1) integration of photonic devices and micro optics for creation of new minimally invasive bio and medical systems for micro-array and neural imaging and 2) application of nanostructures semiconductors for the acceleration of electrons using light, a dielectric Laser Accelerator (DLA), and 3) novel materials and nano structuring for high efficiency solar cells and photo electrochemical water splitting for the generation of hydrogen.
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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
Senior Associate Dean for Education and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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
Director, Precourt Institute for Energy, 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
Visiting Scholar, Woods InstituteBioLily 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.
