Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 121-140 of 145 Results
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Erik Sperling
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
On Leave from 01/01/2024 To 08/31/2024Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe research interests in the Sperling Lab are Earth history and the evolution of life, and the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere. As such this research can generally be considered paleontology, insofar as paleontology encompasses all aspects of the history of life.
Consequently, we define our research agenda by the questions we are interested in, rather than the tools used. This research incorporates multiple lines of evidence, and multiple tools, to investigate questions in the history of life. These lines of evidence include fossil data, molecular phylogenetics, sedimentary geochemistry, and developmental and ecological data from modern organisms. Ultimately, the goal is to link environmental change with organismal and ecological response through the lens of physiology.
Our field research takes place all over the world--current areas include:
-NW Canada (Yukon and Northwest Territories): Research has been conducted on the early Neoproterozoic Fifteenmile Group, Cryogenian and Ediacaran Windermere Supergroup, and on the Ordovician-Devonian Road River Group in the southern Richardson Mountains
-Southern Canadian Cordillera: Work here has focused on the early Cambrian Mural Formation and its soft-bodied fauna.
-England and Wales: Cambrian-Silurian successions in the Welsh Basin
-Namibia: Ediacaran Nama Group
-Upwelling zones: We study the oxygen minimum zone offshore California as an analogue for ancient low-oxygen oceans. -
Jonathan Stebbins
Professor of Geological Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsstructure and dynamics of crystalline, glassy, and molten inorganic materials and how these relate to geologically and technologically important properties and processes; solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resoance (NMR); mineralogy; igneous petrology; glass science
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Sonia Tikoo-Schantz
Assistant Professor of Geophysics and, by courtesy, of Earth and Planetary Sciences
BioI utilize paleomagnetism and fundamental rock magnetism as tools to investigate problems in the planetary sciences. By studying the remanent magnetism recorded within rocks from differentiated planetary bodies, I can learn about core processes that facilitate the generation of dynamo magnetic fields within the Earth, Moon, and planetesimals. Determining the longevities and paleointensities of dynamo fields that initially magnetized rocks also provides insight into the long-term thermal evolution (i.e., effects of secular cooling) of planetary bodies. I also use paleomagnetism to understand impact cratering events, which are the most ubiquitous modifiers of planetary surfaces across the solar system. Impact events produce heat, shock, and sometimes hydrothermal systems that are all capable of resetting magnetization within impactites and target rocks via thermal, shock, and chemical processes. Therefore, I am able to use a combination of paleomagnetic and rock magnetic characterization to investigate shock pressures, temperatures, structural changes, and post-impact chemical alteration experienced by cratered planetary surfaces.
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Tiziana Vanorio
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsRock Physics, Fossil Energy Exploration, Volcanic and Geothermal Environments and Microseismicity
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Anjani D Varma
Assistant Director of Student Services, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Current Role at StanfordStudent Services Officer for Undergrads, Coterms & Masters at Materials Science and Engineering Dept.
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Adrian A. Wackett
Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, admitted Autumn 2022
BioAdrian A. Wackett was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota (unceded Wahpekute/Dakota lands). He double majored in Chemistry and Geosciences at Trinity University (TX) before returning to Saint Paul and completing his MS degree in Land & Atmospheric Sciences (specifically pedology/biogeochemistry) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he studied global w'o'rming. Before coming to Stanford as an NSF GRFP Fellow he traveled extensively through Latin America and SE Asia (by bike) and worked as an independent researcher affiliated with the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Umeå University and the Climate Impacts Research Centre in Abisko, Sweden. He is broadly curious in learning how the world works, and this informs his outlook towards research. Previous topics of inquiry include: coupling ant bioturbation to the erosion and weathering of hillslope soils in SE Australia, exploring earthworm invasions and their deterministic effects on soil carbon stocks and forms in Fennoscandian and Alaskan forests, and examining the biogeochemical diversity of ‘black smoker’ plume particles at deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
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Xiaolong Wei
Postdoctoral Scholar, Geological Sciences
BioXiaolong Wei is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford University. He is a member of the Stanford Mineral-X Initiative. Xiaolong focuses on addressing significant challenges associated with mineral exploration, and leading to a step change in the discovery of new mineral deposits. Xiaolong is currently working with Prof. Jef Caers on exploring mineral resources as well as quantifying the uncertainties of deposits using geological, geochemical and geophysical measurements.
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Jane Kathryn Willenbring
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy of Earth System Science
BioJane Willenbring joined Stanford as an Associate Professor in the summer of 2020. Jane is a geologist who solves problems related to the Earth surface. Her research is primarily done to understand the evolution of the Earth’s surface - especially how landscapes are affected by tectonics, climate change, and life. She and her research group use geochemical techniques, high-resolution topographic data, field observations, and, when possible, couple these data to landscape evolution numerical models and ice sheet models. The geochemical tools she uses and develops often include cosmogenic nuclide systems, which provide powerful, novel methods to constrain rates of erosion and mineral weathering. Jane has also started to organize citizen science campaigns and apply basic science principles to problems of human health with an ultimate broader impact goal of cleaning up urban areas and environments impacted by agriculture. She received her B.Sc. with honors from the North Dakota State University where she was a McNair Scholar and in the NDSU scholars program. She holds a Masters degree from Boston University. Her Ph.D. is in Earth Science from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada where she was a Killam Scholar. She was a Synthesis Postdoctoral Fellow through the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics at the Saint Anthony Falls Lab at the University of Minnesota, and an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow and then subsequently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Helmholz GFZ Potsdam, Germany. Jane was previously an Associate Professor in the Geosciences Research Division and Thomas and Evelyn Page Chancellor's Endowed Faculty Fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego where she was the director of the Scripps Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory (SCI-Lab). She was also a tenure-track professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She will be a Stanford University Gabilan Faculty Fellow in 2021-2023. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and was the inaugural recipient of the Marguerite T. Williams award from the American Geophysical Union.
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Jeffrey Wong
Research Administrator 3, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Current Role at StanfordJeff is responsible for supporting the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department’s sponsored grants portfolio and faculty members' financial accounts. Jeff assists faculty members with budgeting and submitting sponsored research proposals, and managing the financial aspects of their sponsored awards. Additionally, Jeff serves as a department financial liaison with other university departments and schools, the Office of Sponsored Research and other academic institutions involved in collaborative research projects.
