Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment


Showing 141-160 of 224 Results

  • Harold Mooney

    Harold Mooney

    Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor in Environmental Biology, Emeritus

    BioStanford ecologist Harold “Hal” Mooney is the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology, emeritus, in the School of Humanities and Science’s Department of Biology and senior fellow, emeritus, with the Stanford Woods Institute as well as the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Mooney helped pioneer the field of physiological ecology and is an internationally recognized expert on environmental sciences. Through his six-decade academic career, Mooney has demonstrated how plant species and groups of species respond to their environments and developed research methodologies for assessing how plants interact with their biotic environments. To date he has authored more than 400 scientific books, papers and articles.

    Mooney's recent research focuses on assessing the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial ecosystems, especially on ecosystem function, productivity and biodiversity. Recent research includes studying the environmental and social consequences of industrialized animal production systems and examining factors that promote the invasion of non-indigenous plant species.

    Mooney has played an international leadership role in numerous research settings, especially with problems related to biodiversity, invasive species, global warming and Mediterranean climates. In addition, he has been active in building up worldwide communities and networks of ecologists and scientists in other disciplines and arranging international conferences on the environment. He played a central role in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), building up an international organization of scientists and having an influential part in setting the guidelines for the formulation of environmental policies. He also has advanced numerous international research programs as Secretary General and Vice-President of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

    Mooney earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1960 and started as an assistant professor at UCLA that same year. In 1968 he was recruited to Stanford University, where he was later appointed the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology in the School of Humanities and Science’s Department of Biology. A senior fellow with the Stanford Woods Institute as well as the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Mooney has led a wide range of national and international scientific activities related to environment and conservation.

    Notable roles included coordinating the 1995 Global Biodiversity Assessment, co-chairing the Assessment Panel of the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, establishing and leading the Global Invasive Species Program and serving as lead review editor for the ongoing global assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. His many accolades and awards include the 1990 ECI Prize in terrestrial ecology, the 1992 Max Planck Research Award in biosciences, the 1996 Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America, the 2000 Nevada Medal, the 2002 Blue Planet Prize, the 2007 Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology, the 2008 Tyler Prize, the 2008 BBVA Foundation Award for Biodiversity Conservation, and the 2010 Volvo Environment Prize.

  • Erin Mordecai

    Erin Mordecai

    Associate Professor of Biology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on the ecology of infectious disease. We are interested in how climate, species interactions, and global change drive infectious disease dynamics in humans and natural ecosystems. This research combines mathematical modeling and empirical work. Our main study systems include vector-borne diseases in humans and fungal pathogens in California grasses.

  • Rosamond Naylor

    Rosamond Naylor

    William Wrigley Professor, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute, at the Freeman Spogli Institute and Professor, by courtesy, of Economics and of Earth System Science

    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

    Julia Novy

    Professor of the Practice, Change Leadership for Sustainability

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTransformative leadership, systems change, sustainability, resilience.

  • Franklin M. ("Lynn") Orr, Jr.

    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

    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.

  • Khalid Osman

    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

    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.

  • Sarina Patel

    Sarina Patel

    Program Manager, Policy & Engagement, Woods Institute

    Current Role at StanfordProgram Manager, Policy & Engagement, Woods Institute

  • Jonathan Payne

    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.

  • Kabir Peay

    Kabir Peay

    Director of the Earth Systems Program, Associate 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.

  • Dmitri Petrov

    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

  • Allison Phillips

    Allison Phillips

    Managing Director, Human and Planetary Health

    Current Role at StanfordManaging Director, Human and Planetary Health initiative, Woods Institute for the Environment

  • Madison Pobis

    Madison Pobis

    Communications Manager, Woods Institute

    Current Role at StanfordCommunications Manager, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

  • Manu Prakash

    Manu Prakash

    Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Oceans and of Biology

    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.

  • Celia Price

    Celia Price

    Conference Services Manager, Woods Institute

    Current Role at StanfordConference Services Manager, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment