Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 1-20 of 43 Results
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Ines M. L. Azevedo
Professor of Energy Science Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor Azevedo is passionate about solving problems that include environmental, technical, economic, and policy issues, where traditional engineering approaches play an important role but cannot provide a complete answer. In particular, she is interested in assessing how energy systems are likely to evolve, which requires comprehensive knowledge of the technologies that can address future energy needs and the decision-making process followed by various agents in the economy.
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Khalid Aziz
Otto N. Miller Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOptimization and reservoir Simulation.
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Ilenia Battiato
Associate Professor of Energy Science Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnergy and environment (battery systems; superhydrophobicity and drag reduction; carbon sequestration); multiscale, mesoscale and hybrid simulations (multiphase and reactive transport processes); effective medium theories; perturbation methods, homogenization and upscaling.
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Sally Benson
Precourt Family Professor, Professor of Energy Science Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy
On Leave from 09/01/2025 To 08/31/2026Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research is focused on reducing the risks of climate change by developing energy supplies with low carbon emissions. Students and post-doctoral fellows in my research group work on carbon dioxide storage, energy systems analysis, and pathways for transitioning to a low-carbon energy system.
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Stacey Bent
Jagdeep & Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Eng, Professor of Energy Science and Eng, Senior Fellow at Precourt & Prof, by courtesy, of Electrical Eng, Materials Sci Eng & Chemistry
On Leave from 04/01/2025BioThe research in the Bent laboratory is focused on understanding and controlling surface and interfacial chemistry and applying this knowledge to a range of problems in semiconductor processing, micro- and nano-electronics, nanotechnology, and sustainable and renewable energy. Much of the research aims to develop a molecular-level understanding in these systems, and hence the group uses of a variety of molecular probes. Systems currently under study in the group include functionalization of semiconductor surfaces, mechanisms and control of atomic layer deposition, molecular layer deposition, nanoscale materials for light absorption, interface engineering in photovoltaics, catalyst and electrocatalyst deposition.
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Karan Bhuwalka
Research Engineer, Energy Science & Engineering
BioDr. Karan Bhuwalka leads the materials supply chain modeling at STEER, a research group that conducts rigorous techno-economic analysis to guide investment, innovation, and policy for the energy transition. Karan's research integrates economics, statistics, manufacturing and materials science to identify pathways to sustainably scale-up critical minerals production. Scaling-up energy supply chains rapidly while minimising life-cycle impacts requires aligning technology, markets and policies. STEER takes a systems approach that links engineering process models with supply and demand considerations to inform decision-making under uncertainty. Karan's current work is focused on modeling graphite production. Previous work spans lithium, nickel, recycled plastics systems and Bayesian modeling to reduce uncertainity in material demand.
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Adam Brandt
Professor of Energy Science Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGreenhouse gas emissions, energy systems optimization, mathematical modeling of resource depletion, life cycle analysis
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Steven Chu
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and of Energy Science and Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSynthesis, functionalization and applications of nanoparticle bioprobes for molecular cellular in vivo imaging in biology and biomedicine. Linear and nonlinear difference frequency mixing ultrasound imaging. Lithium metal-sulfur batteries, new approaches to electrochemical splitting of water. CO2 reduction, lithium extraction from salt water
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William Chueh
Director, Precourt Institute for Energy, Kimmelman Professor, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Energy Science and Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioThe availability of low-cost but intermittent renewable electricity (e.g., derived from solar and wind) underscores the grand challenge to store and dispatch energy so that it is available when and where it is needed. Redox-active materials promise the efficient transformation between electrical, chemical, and thermal energy, and are at the heart of carbon-neutral energy cycles. Understanding design rules that govern materials chemistry and architecture holds the key towards rationally optimizing technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and novel thermodynamic cycles. Electrochemical and chemical reactions involved in these technologies span diverse length and time scales, ranging from Ångströms to meters and from picoseconds to years. As such, establishing a unified, predictive framework has been a major challenge. The central question unifying our research is: “can we understand and engineer redox reactions at the levels of electrons, ions, molecules, particles and devices using a bottom-up approach?” Our approach integrates novel synthesis, fabrication, characterization, modeling and analytics to understand molecular pathways and interfacial structure, and to bridge fundamentals to energy storage and conversion technologies by establishing new design rules.
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Yi Cui
Fortinet Founders Professor, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Energy Science and Engineering, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at Woods, at Precourt and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemistry
BioCui studies fundamentals and applications of nanomaterials and develops tools for their understanding. Research Interests: nanotechnology, batteries, electrocatalysis, wearables, 2D materials, environmental technology (water, air, soil), cryogenic electron microscopy.
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David Danielson
Adjunct Professor
BioDavid T. Danielson became a Precourt energy scholar at Stanford in 2016. With Stuart Macmillan and Joel Moxley, Dave co-teaches the yearlong course "Energy Transformation Collaborative." This project-based course provides a launchpad for the creation and development of transformational energy ventures. Interdisciplinary student teams research, analyze and refine detailed plans for high-impact opportunities in the context of the new energy venture development framework offered in this course.
Since January 2017, Dave has been managing director of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion fund focused on fighting climate change by investing in clean energy innovation.
From 2012 to 2016, Dave was assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. There, he directed the U.S. government’s innovation strategy in the areas of sustainable transportation, renewable power, energy efficiency and clean-energy manufacturing, investing about $2 billion annually into American clean-energy innovation. He is considered a global expert in the development of next generation clean-energy technologies and the creation of new R&D and organizational models for high-impact clean energy innovation.
Prior to being appointed by President Obama as assistant secretary, Dave was the first hire at DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency– Energy (ARPA-E), a funding agency that focuses on the development of high-risk, high-reward clean-energy technologies. Prior to his government service, he was a clean-energy venture capitalist and, as a PhD student at MIT, was the founder and president of the MIT Energy Club. -
Steven J. Davis
Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Energy Science and Engineering
BioSteve Davis is a highly-cited researcher and expert in earth system science, emissions and energy scenarios, climate impacts and solutions, and corporate climate strategy. He is a Professor of Earth System Science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and leads the Sustainable Solutions Lab, a research group dedicated to quantifying how different human activities are affecting climate and air quality, how those environmental changes in turn jeopardize human wellbeing, and the relative priority of solutions.
Steve was a Contributing Author of two Working Group III chapters in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), serves on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Carbon Project, was the Lead Author of the Mitigation chapter in the U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment, and is a member of the Technical Council of the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Prior to his science career, Steve worked as a lawyer to venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley, and holds degrees from Stanford University, the University of Virginia School of Law and the University of Florida, where he double-majored in Political Science and Philosophy. -
Carlos Diaz Marin
Assistant Professor of Energy Science and Engineering
BioCarlos Diaz-Marin is an Assistant Professor in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He leads the Diaz Energy Lab on Theory and Advanced materials (DELTA) Group, which studies and leverages soft matter for applications in energy, water, and sustainability. The group integrates fundamental studies of material-molecule/ion interactions, synthesis, characterization, modeling, and device demonstration, while guided by technoeconomic analyses, for applications such as water production from air, carbon capture, building energy efficiency, biomass utilization, critical mineral recovery, and electrochemistry.
Before coming to Stanford, Carlos was an ARPA-E ORISE Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) within the US Department of Energy, helping develop research funding programs in high-risk, high-reward energy and sustainability technologies. Carlos obtained his MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and double undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from the University of Costa Rica. -
Omar Duran
Physical Science Research Scientist
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch at the intersection of computational math and subsurface poromechanics develops robust, structure-preserving, scalable methods for multiphysics in porous/fractured media. Focus: advanced discretizations (HHO, multiscale mixed FE), THM modeling with Cosserat effects, and compositional multiphase flow with phase changes. Work includes solver/preconditioner design, mixed-dimensional fracture modeling, and HPC software (GEOS) for near-exascale performance.
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Louis Durlofsky
Otto N. Miller Professor in the School of Earth Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGeneral reservoir simulation, optimization, reduced-order modeling, upscaling, flow in fractured systems, history matching, CO2 sequestration, energy systems optimization
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Margot Gerritsen
Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My work is about understanding and simulating complicated fluid flow problems. My research focuses on the design of highly accurate and efficient parallel computational methods to predict the performance of enhanced oil recovery methods. I'm particularly interested in gas injection and in-situ combustion processes. These recovery methods are extremely challenging to simulate because of the very strong nonlinearities in the governing equations. Outside petroleum engineering, I'm active in coastal ocean simulation with colleagues from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, yacht research and pterosaur flight mechanics with colleagues from the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, and the design of search algorithms in collaboration with the Library of Congress and colleagues from the Institute of Computational and Mathematical Engineering.
Teaching
I teach courses in both energy related topics (reservoir simulation, energy, and the environment) in my department, and mathematics for engineers through the Institute of Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME). I also initiated two courses in professional development in our department (presentation skills and teaching assistant training), and a consulting course for graduate students in ICME, which offers expertise in computational methods to the Stanford community and selected industries.
Professional Activities
Senior Associate Dean, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford (from 2015); Director, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford (from 2010); Stanford Fellow (2010-2012); Magne Espedal Professor II, Bergen University (2011-2014); Aldo Leopold Fellow (2009); Chair, SIAM Activity group in Geosciences (2007, present, reelected in 2009); Faculty Research Fellow, Clayman Institute (2008); Elected to Council of Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) (2007); organizing committee, 2008 Gordon Conference on Flow in Porous Media; producer, Smart Energy podcast channel; Director, Stanford Yacht Research; Co-director and founder, Stanford Center of Excellence for Computational Algorithms in Digital Stewardship; Editor, Journal of Small Craft Technology; Associate editor, Transport in Porous Media; Reviewer for various journals and organizations including SPE, DoE, NSF, Journal of Computational Physics, Journal of Scientific Computing, Transport in Porous Media, Computational Geosciences; member, SIAM, SPE, KIVI, AGU, and APS -
Stephan Graham
Welton Joseph and Maud L'Anphere Crook Professor of Applied Earth Sciences & by courtesy, of Geophysics & of Energy Science Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSedimentary basin analysis; petroleum geology
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Roland Horne
Thomas Davies Barrow Professor and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWell Testing, Optimisation and Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
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Matthias Ihme
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Photon Science and, by courtesy, of Energy Science and Engineering
BioLarge-eddy simulation and modeling of turbulent reacting flows, non-premixed flame, aeroacoustics and combustion generated noise, turbulence and fluid dynamics, numerical methods and high-order schemes.
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Thomas Jaramillo
Professor of Chemical Engineering, of Energy Science Engineering, of Photon Science and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioRecent years have seen unprecedented motivation for the emergence of new energy technologies. Global dependence on fossil fuels, however, will persist until alternate technologies can compete economically. We must develop means to produce energy (or energy carriers) from renewable sources and then convert them to work as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Catalysis is energy conversion, and the Jaramillo laboratory focuses on fundamental catalytic processes occurring on solid-state surfaces in both the production and consumption of energy. Chemical-to-electrical and electrical-to-chemical energy conversion are at the core of the research. Nanoparticles, metals, alloys, sulfides, nitrides, carbides, phosphides, oxides, and biomimetic organo-metallic complexes comprise the toolkit of materials that can help change the energy landscape. Tailoring catalyst surfaces to fit the chemistry is our primary challenge.