Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability


Showing 1-20 of 33 Results

  • Beatriz Magaloni

    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

  • Gail Mahood

    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

  • Dr. Arun Majumdar

    Dr. Arun Majumdar

    Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Jay Precourt Professor, Professor of Mech Eng, of Energy Sci & Eng, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at Woods and by courtesy, of Materials Sci & Eng and Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at Hoover

    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

    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.

  • Ali Mani

    Ali Mani

    Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

    BioAli Mani is an associate 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.

  • Wendy Mao

    Wendy Mao

    Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, of Photon Science and, by courtesy, of Geophysics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUnderstanding the formation and evolution of planetary interiors; experimental mineral physics; materials in extreme environments.

  • Gilbert Masters

    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

    Michael Mastrandrea

    Senior Research Scholar

    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.

  • Pamela Matson

    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, 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 current role as the Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment, she leads the graduate program on Sustainability Science and Practice. Her research addresses 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.

    Dr. Matson serves 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 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

    Meagan Mauter

    Associate Professor 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

    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

    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

    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.

  • Michael McFaul

    Michael McFaul

    Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Freeman Spogli Institute and the Woods Institute

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAmerican foreign policy, great power relations, comparative autocracies, and the relationship between democracy and development.

  • Paul McIntyre

    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.

  • Nicholas Melosh

    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

  • Anna M. Michalak

    Anna M. Michalak

    Professor (By Courtesy), Earth System Science

    BioDr. Anna M. Michalak is the Founding Director of the Carnegie Climate and Resilience Hub at the Carnegie Institution for Science, where she has been a Faculty Member since 2011 and served as Director of the Department of Global Ecology for 2020-2023. Michalak also holds appointments as Professor (by courtesy) in the Department of Earth System Science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Prior to joining Carnegie, she was the Frank and Brooke Transue Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.Sc.(Eng.) in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph, Canada.

    Dr. Michalak studies the cycling and emissions of greenhouse gases at the Earth surface at urban to global scales – scales directly relevant to informing climate and policy – primarily through the use of atmospheric observations that provide the clearest constraints at these critical scales. She also explores climate change impacts on freshwater and coastal water quality via influences on nutrient delivery to, and on conditions within, water bodies. Her approach is highly data-driven, with a common methodological thread being the development and application of spatiotemporal statistical data fusion methods for optimizing the use of limited in situ and remote sensing environmental data.

    She is the lead author of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan, Co-Chair of the National Academies committee for the midterm assessment of the NASA decadal survey for Earth system observations from space, Co-Chair of the carbon and water advisory boards for Schmidt Sciences, Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society, and Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google Research. Previously, she was Editor of the journal Water Resources Research and Chair of the scientific advisory board for the European Integrated Carbon Observation System. She is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (nominated by NASA), the NSF CAREER award, the Leopold Fellowship in environmental leadership, and the American Geophysical Union’s Simpson Medal.