Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 201-250 of 376 Results
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Alexandra Konings
Associate Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and, by courtesy, of Geophysics
BioAlexandra Konings leads the Remote Sensing Ecohydrology group, which studies interactions between the global carbon and water cycles. That is, her research studies how changes in hydrological conditions change ecosystems, and how this in turn feeds back to weather and climate. These interactions include studies of transpiration and root water uptake, photosynthesis, mortality, and fire processes, among others. To address these topics, the groups primarily uses the tools of model development and remote sensing (satellite) data, especially microwave remote sensing data of vegetation water content. Alex believes that a deep understanding of remote sensing techniques and how they can be used to create environmental datasets enables new opportunities for scientific insight and vice versa.
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Jeffrey R. Koseff
William Alden Campbell and Martha Campbell Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Oceans, Emeritus
BioJeff Koseff, founding co-director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, is an expert in the interdisciplinary domain of environmental fluid mechanics. His research falls in the interdisciplinary domain of environmental fluid mechanics and focuses on the interaction between physical and biological systems in natural aquatic environments. Current research activities are in the general area of environmental fluid mechanics and focus on: turbulence and internal wave dynamics in stratified flows, coral reef and sea-grass hydrodynamics, the role of natural systems in coastal protection, and flow through terrestrial and marine canopies. Most recently he has begun to focus on the interaction between gravity currents and breaking internal waves in the near-coastal environment, and the transport of marine microplastics. Koseff was formerly the Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Senior Associate Dean of Engineering at Stanford, and has served on the Board of Governors of The Israel Institute of Technology, and has been a member of the Visiting Committees of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Carnegie-Mellon University, The Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, and Cornell University. He has also been a member of review committees for the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, The WHOI-MIT Joint Program, and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment. He is a former member of the Independent Science Board of the Bay/Delta Authority. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2015, and received the Richard Lyman Award from Stanford University in the same year. In 2020 he was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Koseff also served as the Faculty Athletics Representative to the Pac-12 and NCAA for Stanford until July 2024.
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Robert Kovach
Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEarthquake seismology, natural hazards, and ancient earthquakes and archaeology
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Anthony Kovscek
Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
Together with my research group, I develop and apply advanced imaging techniques, experimentation, and models to understand complex multiphase flows of gas, water, and organic phases in natural and manufactured porous media with applications in carbon storage, increased utilization of carbon dioxide for subsurface applications, hydrogen storage, and water reuse. In all of our work, physical observations, obtained mainly from laboratory and field measurements, are interwoven with theory.
Teaching
My teaching interests center broadly around education of students to meet the energy challenges that we will face this century. I teach undergraduate courses that examine the interplay of energy use and environmental issues including renewable energy resources and sustainability. At the graduate level, I offer classes on renewable energy processes based on heat and the thermodynamics of hydrocarbon mixtures.
Professional Activities
Member, American Geophysical Union, Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the American Chemical Society. -
Jon Krosnick
Frederic O. Glover Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor of Communication and of Political Science, of Environmental Social Sciences and, by courtesy, of Psychology
BioJon Krosnick is a social psychologist who does research on attitude formation, change, and effects, on the psychology of political behavior, and on survey research methods. He is the Frederic O. Glover Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor of Communication, Political Science, Environmental Social Sciences, and (by courtesy) Psychology. He directs Stanford's Political Psychology Research Group and has directed the Summer Institute in Political Psychology.
To read reports on Professor Krosnick’s research program exploring public opinion on the environment, visit the American Public Opinion on Climate Change web site (https://climatepublicopinion.stanford.edu/).
Research Interests
Author of seven published books and two forthcoming books and more than 190 articles and chapters, Dr. Krosnick conducts research in three primary areas: (1) attitude formation, change, and effects, (2) the psychology of political behavior, and (3) the optimal design of questionnaires used for laboratory experiments and surveys, and survey research methodology more generally.
His attitude research has focused primarily on the notion of attitude strength, seeking to differentiate attitudes that are firmly crystallized and powerfully influential of thinking and action from attitudes that are flexible and inconsequential. Many of his studies in this area have focused on the amount of personal importance that an individual chooses to attach to an attitude. Dr. Krosnick’s studies have illuminated the origins of attitude importance (e.g., material self-interest and values) and the cognitive and behavioral consequences of importance in regulating attitude impact and attitude change processes.
Honors
Winner of the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding research, and the Nevitt Sanford Award from the International Society of Political Psychology, Dr. Krosnick’s scholarship has been recognized by election as a fellow by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Erik Erikson Award for Excellence and Creativity in the Field of Political Psychology from the International Society of Political Psychology, two fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Phillip Brickman Memorial Prize for Research in Social Psychology, and the American Political Science Association’s Best Paper Award. -
Angelle Desiree LaBeaud
Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases), Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Environmental Social Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsArthropod-borne viruses are emerging and re-emerging infections that are spreading throughout the world. Our laboratory investigates the epidemiology of arboviral infections, focusing on the burden of disease and the long-term complications on human health. In particular, Dr. LaBeaud investigates dengue, chikungunya, and Rift Valley fever viruses in Kenya, where outbreaks cause fever, arthritis, retinitis, encephalitis, and hemorrhagic fever. Our main research questions focus on the risk factors for arboviral infections, the development of diagnostic tests that can be administered in the field to quickly determine what kind of arboviral infection a person has, and the genetic and immunologic investigation of why different people respond differently to the same infection. Our long-term goals are to contribute to a deeper understanding of arboviral infections and their long-term health consequences and to optimize control strategies to prevent these emerging infections. Our laboratory also investigates the effects of antenatal and postnatal parasitic infections on vaccine responses, growth, and development of Kenyan children.
My lab at Stanford supports the field work that is ongoing in Kenya, but we also have several projects that are based locally. We strive to improve diagnostics of arboviral infections and are using Luminex technology to build a new screening assay. We also have created a Luminex based platform to assess vaccine responses against multiple pathogens. -
Ching-Yao Lai
Assistant Professor of Geophysics
BioMy group attacks fundamental questions in fluid dynamics and geophysics by integrating mathematical and machine-learned models with observational data. We use our findings to address challenges facing the world, such as advancing our scientific knowledge of ice dynamics under climate change. The length scale of the systems we are interested in varies broadly from a few microns to thousands of kilometers, because the governing physical principles are often universal across a range of length and time scales. We use mathematical models, simulations, and machine learning to study the complex interactions between fluids and elasticity and their interfacial dynamics, such as multiphase flows, flows in deformable structures, and cracks. We extend our findings to tackle emerging topics in climate science and geophysics, such as understand the missing physics that governs the flow of ice sheets in a warming climate. We welcome collaborations across disciplinary lines, from geophysics, engineering, physics, applied math to computer science, since we believe combining expertise and methodologies across fields is crucial for new discoveries.
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Sanjay Lall
Professor of Electrical Engineering
BioSanjay Lall is Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Information Systems Laboratory and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He received a B.A. degree in Mathematics with first-class honors in 1990 and a Ph.D. degree in Engineering in 1995, both from the University of Cambridge, England. His research group focuses on algorithms for control, optimization, and machine learning. Before joining Stanford he was a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the Department of Control and Dynamical Systems, and prior to that he was a NATO Research Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. He was also a visiting scholar at Lund Institute of Technology in the Department of Automatic Control. He has significant industrial experience applying advanced algorithms to problems including satellite systems, advanced audio systems, Formula 1 racing, the America's cup, cloud services monitoring, and integrated circuit diagnostic systems, in addition to several startup companies. Professor Lall has served as Associate Editor for the journal Automatica, on the steering and program committees of several international conferences, and as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, DARPA, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He is the author of over 130 peer-refereed publications.
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Eric Lambin
George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI study human-environment interactions in land systems by linking remote sensing, GIS and socio-economic data. I aim at better understanding causes and impacts of changes in tropical forests, drylands, and farming systems. I currently focus on land use transitions – i.e., the shift from deforestation (or land degradation) to reforestation (or land sparing for nature), – the influence of globalization on land use decisions, and the interactions between public and private governance of land use.
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Mathieu Lapôtre
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy, of Geophysics and of Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioProf. Lapôtre leads the Earth & Planetary Surface Processes group. His research focuses on the physics behind sedimentary and geomorphic processes that shape planetary surfaces (including Earth's), and aims to untangle what sedimentary rocks tell us about the past hydrology, climate, and habitability of planets.
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James Leape
William and Eva Price Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioJim Leape serves as co-director of the Center for Ocean Solutions and is the William and Eva Price Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Through research, writing, and direct engagement with private and public sector leaders, Jim looks at how to drive large-scale systemic shifts to sustainability, with particular interest in expanding private sector leadership on sustainability globally.
Jim has four decades of conservation experience, spanning a broad range of conservation issues on every continent. From 2005 to 2014, he served as Director General of WWF International and leader of the global WWF Network, which is one of the world’s largest conservation organizations, active in more than 100 countries. In that capacity, he worked with government, business and civil society leaders on a wide range of issues, including climate change, marine conservation, forest protection, water resources management, and sustainability in global commodity markets. Before going to WWF International, Jim directed the conservation and science initiatives of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a leading philanthropy in the U.S. Previously, he served as executive vice president of WWF-US in Washington, D.C.; as a lawyer for the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya; as a law professor; and as a litigator for the National Audubon Society and for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jim has served on the boards of the Marine Stewardship Council, Mission 2020 and the Luc Hoffmann Institute, and on the Global Future Council for the Food Security and the Environmental Stewards Board of the World Economic Forum. From 2007 to 2017, he was a member of the China Council for International Cooperation in Environment and Development, which advises the Premier of China. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the ClimateWorks Foundation.
Leape received an A.B. with honors from Harvard College and a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School.
Jim serves on the boards of the Marine Stewardship Council, Mission 2020 and the Luc Hoffmann Institute, and on the Global Future Council for the Food Security and the Environmental Stewards Board of the World Economic Forum. From 2007 to 2017, he was a member of the China Council for International Cooperation in Environment and Development, which advises the Premier of China. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the ClimateWorks Foundation.
Leape received an A.B. with honors from Harvard College and a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School. -
Anna Lee
Lecturer
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAnna's research interests are how people learn about and make decisions related to food and waste.
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Larry John Leifer
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur "designXlab" at the Stanford Center for Design Research (CDR) has long (30+ years) been focused on Engineering Design Team dynamics at global collaboration scale working with corporate partners in my graduate course ME310ABC. In our most recent studies we have added Neuroscience visualization of brain activity using fMRI and fNIRS. In doing so we have launched "NeuroDesign" as a professional discipline.
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Michael Lepech
C. L. Peck, Class of 1906, Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioUnsustainable energy and material consumption, waste production, and emissions are some of today’s most pressing global concerns. To address these concerns, civil engineers are now designing facilities that, for example, passively generate power, reuse waste, and are carbon neutral. These designs are based foremost on longstanding engineering theory. Yet woven within this basic knowledge must be new science and new technologies, which advance the field of civil engineering to the forefront of sustainability-focused design.
My research develops fundamental engineering design concepts, models, and tools that are tightly integrated with quantitative sustainability assessment and service life modeling across length scales, from material scales to system scales, and throughout the early design, project engineering, construction, and operation life cycle phases of constructed facilities. My research follows the Sustainable Integrated Materials, Structures, Systems (SIMSS) framework. SIMSS is a tool to guide the multi-scale design of sustainable built environments, including multi-physics modeling informed by infrastructure sensing data and computational learning and feedback algorithms to support advanced digital-twinning of engineered systems. Thus, my research applies SIMMS through two complementary research thrusts; (1) developing high-fidelity quantitative sustainability assessment methods that enable civil engineers to quickly and probabilistically measure sustainability indicators, and (2) creating multi-scale, fundamental engineering tools that integrate with sustainability assessment and facilitate setting and meeting sustainability targets throughout the life cycle of constructed facilities.
Most recently, my research forms the foundation of the newly created Stanford Center at the Incheon Global Campus (SCIGC) in South Korea, a university-wide research center examining the potential for smart city technologies to enhance the sustainability of urban areas. Located in the smart city of Songdo, Incheon, South Korea, SCIGC is a unique global platform to (i) advance research on the multi-scale design, construction, and operation of sustainable built environments, (ii) demonstrate to cities worldwide the scalable opportunities for new urban technologies (e.g., dense urban sensing networks, dynamic traffic management, autonomous vehicles), and (iii) improve the sustainability and innovative capacity of increasingly smarter cities globally.
With an engineering background in civil and environmental engineering and material science (BSE, MSE, PhD), and business training in strategy and finance (MBA), I continue to explore to the intersection of entrepreneurship education, innovation capital training, and the potential of startups to more rapidly transfer and scale technologies to solve some of the world's most challenging problems. -
Andrew Leslie
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in morphological evolution. I approach this broad topic by investigating how interactions among form, function, and environment have influenced evolutionary patterns in plant reproductive structures over million-year time scales. This approach requires synthesizing information from different disciplines, and my work uses approaches from paleontology, biomechanics, phylogenetics, and biogeography.
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Philip Levis
Professor of Computer Science and of Electrical Engineering
BioProfessor Levis' research focuses on the design and implementation of efficient software systems for embedded wireless sensor networks; embedded network sensor architecture and design; systems programming and software engineering.
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Raymond Levitt
Kumagai Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Levitt founded and directs Stanford’s Global Projects Center (GPC), which conducts research, education and outreach to enhance financing, governance and sustainability of global building and infrastructure projects. Dr. Levitt's research focuses on developing enhanced governance of infrastructure projects procured via Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) delivery, and alternative project delivery approaches for complex buildings like full-service hospitals or data centers.
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Shanjun Li
Steven and Roberta Denning Global Sustainability Professor, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
BioShanjun Li is the Steven and Roberta Denning Global Sustainability Professor and a Senior Fellow at both the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). His research focuses on environmental and energy economics, urban and transportation economics, empirical industrial organization, and the Chinese economy. His recent work examines pressing sustainability challenges and the rapid rise of clean energy industries in China, exploring their global implications to inform evidence-based policymaking.
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Aaron Lindenberg
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and of Photon Science
BioLindenberg's research is focused on visualizing the ultrafast dynamics and atomic-scale structure of materials on femtosecond and picosecond time-scales. X-ray and electron scattering and spectroscopic techniques are combined with ultrafast optical techniques to provide a new way of taking snapshots of materials in motion. Current research is focused on the dynamics of phase transitions, ultrafast properties of nanoscale materials, and charge transport, with a focus on materials for information storage technologies, energy-related materials, and nanoscale optoelectronic devices.
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Juhn Liou
Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPetrochemical processes and tectonics of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terranes
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Ira Lit
Professor (Teaching) of Education
BioResearch and practice focuses on teacher education, elementary education, educational equity, and the design and purpose of education and schooling, as well as the exploration of the educational experience of students often marginalized by the school context.
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Keith Loague
Professor of Geological Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsRESEARCH (see PUBLICATIONS), 1980-2017
Process-based characterizations of surface & near-surface hydrologic response, based upon comprehensive field observations and sophisticated numerical simulations.
* Group Members (with degrees earned): John Griggs - PhD, Jennifer Kleveno - MS, Robert Miyahira - MS, Ephraim Leon-Guerrero - MS, Domingo Molina - MS, Robert Abrams - MS, Ricardo Diaz-Diaz - Post Doctoral Fellow, Erik Wahlstrom - MS, Robert Abrams - PhD, Robert Abrams - Post Doctoral Fellow, Jim Blanke - MS CoTerm, Anona Dutton - MS CoTerm, D’Artagnan Lloyd - MS, Melissa Mills - MS, Edzer Pebesma - Visiting Scholar, Iris Stewart - PhD, Luis Ugalde - MS, Joel VanderKwaak - Post Doctoral Fellow, Dennis Corwin - Visiting Scholar, Leigh Soutter - PhD, Robert Abrams - Research Associate, Qihua Ran - MS, Lauren Benson - MS CoTerm, Qihua Ran - PhD, Adrianne Carr - PhD, Christopher Heppner - PhD, Susan BeVille - MS CoTerm, Brian Ebel - PhD, Brian Ebel - Post Doctoral Fellow, Benjamin Mirus - PhD, Mollie Pettit - MS, Kristin Mayer - MS, Matthew Thomas - PhD, & Matthew Thomas - Post Doctoral Fellow
* Invited Reviews, requested by: Academic Press, Advances in Environmental Research, Advances in Water Resources, American Geophysical Union, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrologic Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Earth & Planetary Science Letters, Ecohydrology, Engineering Geology, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, Environmental Earth Sciences, Environmental Geology, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Environmental Science & Technology, Geoderma, Geophysical Research Letters, Hydrogeology, Hydrological Processes, Contaminant Hydrology, Environmental Quality, Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, Natural Hazards, National Aeronautics & Space Administration, National Geographic Society, National Science Foundation, National Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, Oxford University Press, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Remote Sensing of Environment, Reviews in Geophysics, Science, USDA Water Quality Research Program, USGS National Institutes for Water Resources , US State Department (Science Center), Soil Science Society of America, Vadoze Zone, Water Resources Center (California), Water Resources Research, Water Resources Research Center (Hawaii), & 37 more journals/agencies
TEACHING (courses taught, repeatedly; 89 total), 1985-2017
* University of Hawaii @ Manoa, 1985-1988 (~ 1,000 days): GG455 Groundwater Geology, GG654 Groundwater Contamination, GG655 Groundwater Modeling, & GG656 Transport Modeling
* University of California @ Berkeley, 1988-1994 (2,222 days): FRM109 Wildland Hydrology, SS150 Soil Hydrology, Soil Science Seminar, SS250 Vadose Zone Modeling, & SS251 Hillslope Hydrology
* Leland Stanford Junior University, 1994-2017 (8,431 days): GES-43Q Environmental Problems, GES-130 Environmental Earth Sciences I, GES-131 Environmental Earth Sciences II, GES-130 Soil Physics and Hydrology, GES-131 Hydrologically-Driven Landscape Evolution, GES-140 Geomorphology, GES-230 Hydrogeology, GES-332b Seminar in Hydrogeology, GES-237 Surface and Near-Surface Hydrologic Response, GES-238 Soil Physics, & GES-239 Advanced Geomorphology
SERVICE (US Army - enlisted - 1,096 days active duty), 1970-1973
* Stateside: Fort Wayne MI, Fort Knox KY (D-12-5 "tigers one and all"), Fort Eustis VA, Fort Stewart GA, Hunter Army Airfield GA, Treasure Island CA, & Fort Carson CO
* Vietnam (volunteer - 328 days "in country"): "breathing in" Saigon / Tan Son Nhut AB (via Travis AFB, Alaska, & Yokota AFB), Vung Tau, 611th Trans Company 1st Aviation Brigade @ Vien Long Army Airfield ("Delta Riggers" - crew chief, Tailboard 336 [67N20 / UH-1H (slick)], door gunner, & rigger), Can Tho Army Airfield, F Troop 1st Calvalry Division @ Bien Hoa Air Base (Army side), & "breathing out" Saigon / Tan Son Nhut AB (to Travis AFB) -
David Lobell
Benjamin M. Page Professor, William Wrigley Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the interactions between food production, food security, and the environment using a range of modern tools.
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Helen Longino
Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am currently pursuing research in several different areas. 1) The concept of interaction in science and philosophy. 2) The epistemology of science, especially social epistemology. 3) The contributions feminist philosophy of science can make to understanding science and sustainability policy in so-called developing countries? 4) How engagement with communities can inform philosophical analysis.
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Amory B Lovins
Senior Precourt Scholar for Integrative Design and Energy Efficiency
Current Role at StanfordAdjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sept 2019 – June 2024, then retitled Lecturer in CEE, with the same responsibilities, because the definition changed and Lovins lacks a PhD. Visiting Scholar, Precourt Institute for Energy.
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Donald Lowe
Max Steineke Professor in Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsClastic sedimentology, deep-water sedimentation mechanics and facies; Archean depositional systems and crustal development
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Stephen Luby
Lucy Becker Professor of Medicine, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Luby’s research interests include identifying and interrupting environmental pathways of disease in low- and middle-income countries.
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Beatriz Magaloni
Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsComparative Politics, Political Economy, Latin American Politics
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Katharine (Kate) Maher
Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHydrology, reactive transport modeling and environmental geochemistry
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Gail Mahood
Professor of Geological Sciences, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOrigin and evolution of silicic magmas expressed in rhyolitic volcanic centers and shallow plutons; geologic histories of calderas; high-precision Ar-Ar geochronology applied to caldera-forming eruptions and flood basalts; formation of lithium deposits in volcanic environments; volcanic hazards in eastern California and western Saudi Arabia, geothermal systems; geoarchaeology
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Dr. Arun Majumdar
Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Jay Precourt Professor, Professor of Mechanical Eng, of Energy Science & Eng, of Photon Science, Sr Fellow at Woods & Professor, by court, of Materials Science & Eng
BioDr. Arun Majumdar is the inaugural Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He is the Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor at Stanford University, a faculty member of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Science and Engineering, a Senior Fellow and former Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy and Senior Fellow (courtesy) of the Hoover Institution. He is also a faculty in Department of Photon Science at SLAC.
In October 2009, Dr. Majumdar was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the Founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), where he served until June 2012 and helped ARPA-E become a model of excellence and innovation for the government with bipartisan support from Congress and other stakeholders. Between March 2011 and June 2012, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, enabling the portfolio of Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability, Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy, as well as multiple cross-cutting efforts such as Sunshot, Grid Modernization Team and others that he had initiated. Furthermore, he was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, on a variety of matters related to management, personnel, budget, and policy. In 2010, he served on Secretary Chu's Science Team to help stop the leak of the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill.
Dr. Majumdar serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board of the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm. He led the Agency Review Team for the Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Biden-Harris Presidential transition. He served as the Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board of US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz, and was also a Science Envoy for the US Department of State with focus on energy and technology innovation in the Baltics and Poland. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and boards of businesses, investment groups and non-profit organizations.
After leaving Washington, DC and before joining Stanford, Dr. Majumdar was the Vice President for Energy at Google, where he assembled a team to create technologies and businesses at the intersection of data, computing and electricity grid.
Dr. Majumdar is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research in the past has involved the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and devices, especially in the areas of energy conversion, transport and storage as well as biomolecular analysis. His current research focuses on redox reactions and systems that are fundamental to a sustainable energy future, multidimensional nanoscale imaging and microscopy, and an effort to leverage modern AI techniques to develop and deliver energy and climate solutions.
Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Majumdar was the Almy & Agnes Maynard Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at University of California–Berkeley and the Associate Laboratory Director for energy and environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also spent the early part of his academic career at Arizona State University and University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Majumdar received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. -
Lisa Mandle
Lead scientist
BioLisa Mandle (she/her) is Director of Science-Software Integration and a Lead Scientist with the Natural Capital Project. She works to make ecosystem service science accessible and actionable through NatCap’s data and software, overseeing our software team. Her research sheds light on how land management and infrastructure development affect ecosystem services, social equity, and human health. Lisa works with governments, multi-lateral development banks, and non-governmental organizations to incorporate this understanding into policy and finance, particularly in Latin America and Asia. She is also lead editor of the book Green Growth That Works, which provides a practical guide to policy and finance mechanisms from around the world for securing benefits from nature.
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Ali Mani
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
BioAli Mani is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He is a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford in 2009. Prior to joining the faculty in 2011, he was an engineering research associate at Stanford and a senior postdoctoral associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering. His research group builds and utilizes large-scale high-fidelity numerical simulations, as well as methods of applied mathematics, to develop quantitative understanding of transport processes that involve strong coupling with fluid flow and commonly involve turbulence or chaos. His teaching includes the undergraduate engineering math classes and graduate courses on fluid mechanics and numerical analysis.
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Wendy Mao
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Photon Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUnderstanding the formation and evolution of planetary interiors; experimental mineral physics; materials in extreme environments.
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Felicia Marcus
Landreth Visiting Fellow
BioFelicia Marcus has a long career as an organizational manager, a federal, state, and local government policymaker, and as a non-profit leader. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Felicia was most recently Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board after having served as Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX and as head of the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works in addition to senior leadership in national non-governmental organizations (Trust for Public Land, Natural Resources Defense Council). She has experience as a private and public interest sector attorney and has worked on issues across the West spanning water supply, water rights, and water quality in addition to experience in other sectors like energy, toxics, and land use. She is also a member of the Water Policy Group, an international network of former and current high-level water official policymakers and is also one of the three US members of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation in addition to serving on many boards and advisory committees. She also currently serves as a Board Member for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, which supports the reliability of the bulk electricity transmission grid for the western United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. Felicia graduated cum laude from Harvard College (East Asian Studies), has her JD from New York University School of Law, and attended Hong Kong University (Rotary Fellowship).
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E'jaaz A. Mason
Lecturer
BioE’jaaz A. Mason is a Lecturer in Earth Systems at Stanford University teaching courses about community-engaged multimedia environmental storytelling. He is also the Co-Founder of Lede New Orleans, a nonprofit fostering community engagement and young adult media production training. A filmmaker, educator, and community engagement specialist, Mason was a member of the 2023-2024 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford. From 2015 to 2020, he taught film and digital media in New Orleans public high schools, founding an award-winning film program at New Orleans Charter Math & Science High School. Mason has received numerous awards for his work in youth education. He was a cinematographer for the 2022 HBO/Time Studios documentary Katrina Babies and is the Story and Impact Producer for the 2025 documentary The River. He is also directing two documentary films: Black Suit: Sewing [Her]story, which highlights the importance of Black women in New Orleans’ Black Masking Indian culture and an untitled film about environmental and societal challenges facing residents of the Bayview Hunter's Point neighborhood in San Francisco.
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Gilbert Masters
Professor (Teaching) of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus
BioGILBERT M. MASTERS
MAP EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
B.S. (1961) AND M.S. (1962) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
PH.D. (1966) Electrical Engineering, STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Gil Masters has focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy systems as essential keys to slowing global warming, enhancing energy security, and improving conditions in underserved, rural communities. Although officially retired in 2002, he has continued to teach CEE 176A: Energy-Efficient Buildings, and CEE 176B: Electric Power: Renewables and Efficiency. He is the author or co-author of ten books, including Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science (3rd edition, 2008), Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems, (2nd edition, 2013), and Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Policy and Planning (2nd edition, 2018). Professor Masters has been the recipient of a number of teaching awards at Stanford, including the university's Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Tau Beta Pi teaching award from the School of Engineering. Over the years, more than 10,000 students have enrolled in his courses. He served as the School of Engineering Associate Dean for Student Affairs from 1982-1986, and he was the Interim Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1992-93. -
Michael Mastrandrea
Research Director
BioMichael Mastrandrea is an interdisciplinary scientist focused on managing climate risks and the design and implementation of energy and climate policy in California and beyond. He is Research Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, as well as Director of Policy at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator. He also serves as Chief Advisor for Energy and Climate Research at the California Energy Commission, supporting the R&D and Energy Assessments divisions. Prior to joining Stanford he was Director of Near Zero and a Senior Research Associate at the Carnegie Institution for Science. He was part of the leadership team for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, where he helped lead the development of two international scientific assessments of climate change science and policy options. He has also served as an author for the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment and as an associate editor for the California Fourth Climate Change Assessment. Mastrandrea sits on the Editorial Board and is a Managing Editor for the journal Climatic Change. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford’s Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford.
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Pamela Matson
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute, Emerita
BioPAMELA MATSON is an interdisciplinary sustainability scientist, former academic leader, and organizational strategist. She served as dean of Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences from 2002-2017, building interdisciplinary departments and educational programs focused on resources, environment and sustainability, as well as co-leading university-wide interdisciplinary initiatives. In her role as the Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment, she lead the graduate program on Sustainability Science and Practice. Her research addressed a range of environment and sustainability issues, including sustainability of agricultural systems, vulnerability and resilience of particular people and places to climate change, and characteristics of science that can contribute to sustainability transitions at scale. as an emerita faculty member, she continues to engage in questions related to transformational change for sustainability goals, and advises Stanford's efforts in that realm.
Dr. Matson served as chair of the board of the World Wildlife Fund-US and as a board member of the World Wildlife Fund-International and several university advisory boards. She served on the US National Academy of Science Board on Sustainable Development and co-wrote the National Research Council’s volume Our Common Journey: A transition toward sustainability (1999); she also led the NRC committee on America’s Climate Choices: Advancing the Science of Climate Change. She was the founding chair of the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, and founding editor for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources. She is a past President of the Ecological Society of America. Her recent publications (among around 200) include the books 'Seeds of Sustainability: Lessons from the Birthplace of the Green Revolution' (2012) and 'Pursuing Sustainability' (2016).
Pam is an elected member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a AAAS Fellow. She received a MacArthur Foundation Award, contributed to the award of the Nobel Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, among other awards and recognitions, and is an Einstein Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Matson holds a Bachelor of Science degree with double majors in Biology and Literature from the University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire), a Master degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Doctorate in Forest Ecology from Oregon State University, and honorary doctorates from Princeton, McGill and Arizona State Universities. She spent ten years as a research scientist with NASA-Ames Research Center before moving to a professorship at the University of California Berkeley and, in 1997, to Stanford University. -
Meagan Mauter
Associate Professor Civil & Environmental Engineering, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering
BioProfessor Meagan Mauter is appointed as an Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and as a Center Fellow, by courtesy, in the Woods Institute for the Environment. She directs the Water and Energy Efficiency for the Environment Lab (WE3Lab) with the mission of providing sustainable water supply in a carbon-constrained world through innovation in water treatment technology, optimization of water management practices, and redesign of water policies. Ongoing research efforts include: 1) developing automated, precise, robust, intensified, modular, and electrified (A-PRIME) water desalination technologies to support a circular water economy, 2) identifying synergies and addressing barriers to coordinated operation of decarbonized water and energy systems, and 3) supporting the design and enforcement of water-energy policies.
Professor Mauter also serves as the research director for the National Alliance for Water Innovation, a $110-million DOE Energy-Water Desalination Hub addressing water security issues in the United States. The Hub targets early-stage research and development of energy-efficient and cost-competitive technologies for desalinating non-traditional source waters.
Professor Mauter holds bachelors degrees in Civil & Environmental Engineering and History from Rice University, a Masters of Environmental Engineering from Rice University, and a PhD in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale University. Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford, she served as an Energy Technology Innovation Policy Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and as an Associate Professor of Engineering & Public Policy, Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. -
Gerald Mavko
Professor (Research) of Geophysics, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
I work to discover and understand the relationship between geophysical measurements and the rock and fluid properties that they sample in the Earth. My students and I have begun to understand the impact of rock type, porosity, pore fluids, temperature, and stress on seismic wave propagation and electromagnetic response. We are also working to quantify the links between geophysical measurements and the sedimentary and diagenetic processes that determine rock mineralogy and texture. Ultimately, this work allows us to better infer, from geophysical images, the composition and physical conditions at depth.
Teaching
I teach courses for graduate and undergraduate students on rock physics--the study of the physical properties of rocks and how they can be detected and mapped using seismic and electrical methods. This includes theory, laboratory measurements, and field data analysis. I also lead seminars in which students present and critique their ongoing research in rock physics.
Professional Activities
Associate chair, Department of Geophysics (2006-2008); distinguished lecturer, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2006); honorary membership, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2001); nominated for Reginald Fessenden Award, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2000); School of Earth Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award (2000) -
Perry L. McCarty
Affiliate, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
BioPerry L. McCarty, Silas H. Palmer Professor Emeritus, came to Stanford University in 1962 to found a new multidisciplinary education and research program in environmental engineering and science that became a model for others throughout the country. From 1980 to 1985 he was Chairman of Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and from 1989 to 2002 he served as Director of the Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center. He received a B.S. Degree in civil engineering from Wayne State University (1953), and M.S. (1957) and Sc.D. (1959) degrees in sanitary engineering from M.I.T.
The focus of McCarty's research, teaching, and writing has been on water, with a primary interest in biological processes for the control of environmental contamination. His early research was on anaerobic treatment processes, biological processes for nitrogen removal and water reuse. Recent interests are on aerobic and anaerobic processes for the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewaters, and the movement, fate, and control of groundwater contaminants.
His numerous awards and accolades for pioneering work on improving water quality worldwide includes memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. McCarty won the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1992, the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Water Science and Technology in 1997, and the Stockholm Water Prize in 2007. In 2011 the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Foundation established the Perry L. McCarty AEESP Founder's Award, given annually in recognition of McCarty's significant contributions to environmental engineering education, research, and practice. The Directorship of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, was named in his honor.
McCarty has written and coauthored over 350 papers, plus the textbooks, Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science, and Environmental Biotechnology - Principles and Applications. -
David Thomas McColl
Adjunct Professor
BioDavid McColl is the Executive Director of Stanford Climate Ventures. He received a B.S. in Management Science & Engineering and an M.S. in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University. He is an Adjunct Professor in Energy Resources Engineering, a research fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance, and a partner at Echelon.
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Michael McFaul
Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAmerican foreign policy, great power relations, comparative autocracies, and the relationship between democracy and development.
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Paul McIntyre
Rick and Melinda Reed Professor, Professor of Photon Science and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioMcIntyre's group performs research on nanostructured inorganic materials for applications in electronics, energy technologies and sensors. He is best known for his work on metal oxide/semiconductor interfaces, ultrathin dielectrics, defects in complex metal oxide thin films, and nanostructured Si-Ge single crystals. His research team synthesizes materials, characterizes their structures and compositions with a variety of advanced microscopies and spectroscopies, studies the passivation of their interfaces, and measures functional properties of devices.
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Nicholas Melosh
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
BioThe Melosh group explores how to apply new methods from the semiconductor and self-assembly fields to important problems in biology, materials, and energy. We think about how to rationally design engineered interfaces to enhance communication with biological cells and tissues, or to improve energy conversion and materials synthesis. In particular, we are interested in seamlessly integrating inorganic structures together with biology for improved cell transfection and therapies, and designing new materials, often using diamondoid molecules as building blocks.
My group is very interested in how to design new inorganic structures that will seamless integrate with biological systems to address problems that are not feasible by other means. This involves both fundamental work such as to deeply understand how lipid membranes interact with inorganic surfaces, electrokinetic phenomena in biologically relevant solutions, and applying this knowledge into new device designs. Examples of this include “nanostraw” drug delivery platforms for direct delivery or extraction of material through the cell wall using a biomimetic gap-junction made using nanoscale semiconductor processing techniques. We also engineer materials and structures for neural interfaces and electronics pertinent to highly parallel data acquisition and recording. For instance, we have created inorganic electrodes that mimic the hydrophobic banding of natural transmembrane proteins, allowing them to ‘fuse’ into the cell wall, providing a tight electrical junction for solid-state patch clamping. In addition to significant efforts at engineering surfaces at the molecular level, we also work on ‘bridge’ projects that span between engineering and biological/clinical needs. My long history with nano- and microfabrication techniques and their interactions with biological constructs provide the skills necessary to fabricate and analyze new bio-electronic systems.
Research Interests:
Bio-inorganic Interface
Molecular materials at interfaces
Self-Assembly and Nucleation and Growth
