Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 1-96 of 96 Results
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Carlos Alvarez Zambrano
Postdoctoral Scholar, Geological Sciences
BioCarlos' research interests include granular matter transport, sand dunes, multiphase flows, and the transport of particles in the atmosphere. At Stanford, Carlos is investigating the formation of eolian bedforms on Mars and Earth.
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Nur Arafeh Dalmau
Postdoctoral Scholar, Oceans
BioI am currently a postdoc at UCLA and Stanford and an Honorary Fellow at The University of Queensland. I am a marine community ecologist and marine spatial planner. My research focuses on understanding the impacts of marine heatwaves on kelp forest ecosystems. I also research the role of marine protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures for providing climate resilience and designing networks of climate-smart marine protected areas. I support conservation initiatives with NGOs, parks, and fishers, and teach decision tools such as Marxan. My heart remains in my beautiful Costa Brava, Spain (Catalonia), where I do my best to support conservation. I am a naive dreamer, and I know future generations will dive into healthy kelp forests and thriving marine ecosystems.
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Adel Asadi
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth and Planetary Sciences
BioAdel Asadi is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, in the Doerr School of Sustainability. He is an affiliate member of the Mineral-X Initiative, a program dedicated to pioneering sustainable critical minerals exploration to facilitate the transition to green energy. Under the supervision of Prof. Jef Caers, Adel's research is focused on mineral exploration, leveraging data science tools and artificial intelligence algorithms. Through the integrated geological data analysis, his goal is to enhance the predictive accuracy of models for discovering high-grade mineral deposits, thereby enabling decision-making with higher certainty.
Before joining Stanford University, Adel was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Tufts University in Massachusetts. There, he conducted research in natural hazards and renewable energy domains. Under Prof. Laurie Baise’s supervision, he developed a novel ensemble machine learning method to assess earthquake-induced soil liquefaction hazards, notably for the 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes. Under Prof. Babak Moaveni’s supervision, in a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), he exploited multiple-point geostatistics to simulate offshore wind speed and direction in a multi-variate context, using numerical weather models, remote sensing, observational, and geospatial data.
Adel Asadi earned his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a Geosystems specialization from Tufts University. His doctoral work in the Geohazards Research Lab involved a diverse toolkit (computer vision, machine learning, remote sensing, and geographic information systems) to model earthquake-induced ground failure hazards (soil liquefaction) and map post-earthquake ground failure damages (landslides and liquefaction) on global, regional, and event-specific scales. His dissertation research was funded by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA).
During his Master's study in Mining Engineering at Michigan Technological University, under Prof. Snehamoy Chatterjee’s supervision, he developed a novel multiple-point geostatistical simulation algorithm for Earth resources modeling and uncertainty quantification. He also worked on a space mining research project aimed at mapping iron and titanium on the lunar surface using remote sensing data and machine learning algorithms. Additionally, he gained one year of professional experience in the copper mining industry through three internships at Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in Arizona. -
Areidy Aracely Beltran-Peña
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioAreidy Beltran-Peña is an Earth System Scientist and a Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellow. She leverages integrated assessment and Earth system models to investigate the global and regional impacts of climate change on water resources available for natural and human consumption. Overall, her research sheds light on the intricate dynamics impacting water and food security amid a changing climate, highlighting the importance of both global and regional analyses.
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Marvin Browne
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioAmong the many constituents of a plant’s environment, water is critical to the functionality of most of a plant’s physiological processes. Given the uncertainty in global climate change's impact on plant species, my work aims to enhance our understanding of how plant physiological traits inform individual, species-level, and ecosystem responses to water stress. I use plant physiological methods and knowledge along with remote sensing tools to address scaling of variation physiology within and across species.
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Paul Berne Burow
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioI am a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. I am an interdisciplinary social-environmental scientist studying how human communities are impacted by environmental change. My work examines the cultural dynamics of environmental change in North America across scales using mixed methods from ethnography and archival research to field ecology and spatial analysis. My postdoctoral project explores the social dimensions and institutional effectiveness of collaborative forest stewardship with federal agencies and Native Nations in California.
My previous work examined the social and cultural dimensions of environmental change in the North America's Great Basin. Based on thirty-six months of field-based ethnographic and historical research in California and Nevada, it investigated the cultural politics of land and its stewardship in dryland forest and shrub steppe ecosystems as it intersected with a changing climate, land use histories, and environmental governance regimes. Landscapes are undergoing material transformation due to climate change, land use practices, and colonialism, in turn reshaping how people relate to land, substantiate their place on it, and make claims to territory. This is creating new social-ecological configurations of people, land, and place I call ecologies of belonging, the subject of my current book manuscript.
Broadly, my research program addresses the sociocultural dimensions of climate and land use change, climate adaptation, and community-based land stewardship across North America. My areas of research and teaching interest include environmental anthropology, Indigenous environmental sciences/studies, ethnoecology, and human-environment geography. I am also engaged in community-based participatory research projects with Tribal Nations to expand Indigenous-led land stewardship and protect cultural landscapes from degradation for the benefit of future generations. -
Christopher Callahan
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioPersonal website (more frequently updated): https://christophercallahan.me
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Joshua Crozier
Postdoctoral Scholar, Geophysics
BioMy research focuses on understanding the processes controlling volcanoes, earthquakes, and glaciers. I combine a variety of types of geophysical and geologic data with methods from fields such as seismology, geodesy, and numerical modeling to understand these systems and the hazards they pose.
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Michelle María Early Capistrán
Postdoctoral Scholar, Oceans
BioMichelle María Early Capistrán is a David H. Smith Conservation Fellow at the Crowder Lab. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on working collaboratively with coastal communities to improve conservation practice by integrating Local Ecological Knowledge and marine ecology. She was originally trained as a Cultural Anthropologist and holds an M.S. and PhD in Marine Science and Limnology (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM). For over a decade, she has collaborated with rural fishing communities in the Baja California peninsula to understand long-term changes in the abundance of endangered and culturally important green turtles (Chelonia mydas). She will work with Prof. Crowder, in collaboration with Jeff Seminoff of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, to develop species distribution model for green turtles under climate change by integrating Local Ecological Knowledge and Citizen/Community Science.
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Amir Eskanlou
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth and Planetary Sciences
BioWith over a decade of research experience, Amir's work is characterized by a dynamic synergy between hands-on experimental investigations and advanced computational analysis. His foundation is primarily in surface and interface chemistry, particle-bubble and particle-reagent interactions, adsorption, and dissolution in the context of critical materials recovery and mineral processing. Amir has extensive experience with characterization techniques, including SEM/EDS, UV-Vis, XRD, XRF, fluorescence spectroscopy, FTIR, and Zetasizer. On the computational front, he is proficient in using DFT codes (QE, VASP, JDFTx) for ab initio computations, LAMMPS for large-scale molecular dynamics, and Python and R for ML and data analysis.
Amir is interested in developing innovative materials and chemicals for applications in separation and purification processes, recovery of critical minerals, energy storage, and waste valorization. -
Dapeng Feng
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioDapeng Feng is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth System Science and Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. During his PhD he developed the differentiable hydrologic modeling framework to unify machine learning and physical models for large-scale water cycle simulations and streamflow forecasting. His current research interests focus on systematically integrating AI, physical models, and big earth observations for large-scale geoscientific modeling and knowledge discovery, particularly in characterizing the terrestrial water cycle and its interactions with plant and climate systems.
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Caroline Ferguson
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioCaroline E. Ferguson is an interdisciplinary social scientist focused on equity and justice at sea. www.ceferguson.com
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Matteo Frigo
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Resources Engineering
BioMatteo Frigo has been a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University since August 2023.
He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Padua in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
In 2020, he received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Padua, with a major in Numerical Analysis.
During his Ph.D., he spent a period as a Visiting Researcher Student at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California, USA.
His leading scientific interests include mathematical and numerical modeling of multiphysics problems mainly related to poromechanics and fracture mechanics.
His research mainly focuses on studying numerical linear algebra problems and preconditioning techniques.
He has experience in implementing high-performance parallel codes on supercomputers with distributed memory and GPU accelerators. -
Laura Frouté
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Science and Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLaura is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working on subsurface engineering solutions for the energy transition. Part of her research focuses on replicating geological hydrogen production in the laboratory and identifying and mitigating reactivity constraints at the microscale. Her research also focuses on investigating carbon storage into various basalt formations by measuring their carbon mineralization potential. Her expertise includes designing laboratory-scale pilots and conducting research on rock formations in the context of hydrocarbon production, carbon storage, and hydrogen production to understand the interplay of geochemistry, reaction mechanisms and complex storage and transport processes across length scales. To study the evolution of porous media properties following reaction or transport experiments, she uses a wide spectrum of multiscale, multimodal material characterization techniques (sorption, XRD, XRF, μCT, FIB-SEM, TEM). She holds a MS in Chemical Engineering from ENSIC (France) and a PhD in Energy Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Her interests range from subsurface engineering, fluid flow in porous media, to environmental and regulatory issues in the oil & gas industry, CCUS, climate solutions and energy policy.
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Melanie Gittard
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am an applied environmental and development economist studying the impacts of climate change and water pollution in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Emily Gordon
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioPhD, Colorado State University, 2023
MSc, University of Otago, 2020
BSc, University of Otago, 2018 -
Tianyang Guo (郭天阳)
Postdoctoral Scholar, Geological Sciences
BioDr. Tianyang Guo earned his Ph.D. degree in Rock Mechanics from the Department of Earth Sciences, the University of Hong Kong in 2020. He earned his bachelor's and master’s degree from Wuhan University (WHU) in 2013 and 2016, respectively. He was awarded the National Scholarship for Graduate in 2015 and graduated from WHU as an outstanding graduate. Before joining Stanford, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) under PolyU Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme 2021.
His research interests include (1) Cracking mechanisms and induced microseismicity during the injection of CO2 into reservoir rocks. (2) Application of machine learning in acoustic emission (AE) data interpretation. (3) Microcracking mechanisms of granite based on AE and microscopic observation. -
Alexander Honeyman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioMy Ph.D. was concerned with the biogeochemistry and recovery of post-wildfire soils. I work at the intersections of data science, field work, laboratory experimentation, biogeochemistry, and microbial ecology. I was exposed to the issue of wildland fire through 10 years of experience as a volunteer firefighter / EMT in Boulder County, Colorado (fire / rescue / EMS). Two current projects are 1) investigating drought and groundwater quality linkages in Colorado, and 2) the geochemical character of wildfire smoke. I love working in environmental systems because they are complex, and offer numerous opportunities to hybridize the physical and computational sciences.
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Qi Hu
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Science and Engineering
BioI am a postdoctoral scholar collaborating with Tapan Mukerji on developing innovative workflows for monitoring subsurface CO2 sequestration. My research primarily involves integrating advanced seismic inversion techniques, such as full-waveform inversion, with rock physics and fluid dynamics to glean insights into subsurface structures and behaviors. Additionally, I am intrigued by the potential of distributed acoustic sensing and machine learning algorithms in various topics related to energy transition.
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Zachary Kaufman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioI am broadly interested in how Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere interact to shape the spatial pattern of climate change. I primarily develop data-driven, statistical approaches to diagnose climate change mechanisms in state-of-the-art earth system models. At Stanford, I use these tools to evaluate the Southern Ocean’s complex relationship with Antarctic ice-sheet mass balance. This work addresses key sources of uncertainty in current climate change projections, supporting improved climate impact assessments and a better-informed societal response to future changes. I recently completed my PhD in the Feldl Lab at University of California, Santa Cruz, where I used a causal inference approach to investigate the role of sea ice in polar climate change. Outside the lab, I enjoy mountain biking, skiing, cooking, and live music.
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Jonas Kloeckner
Postdoctoral Scholar, Sustain
BioJonas Kloeckner is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, sponsored by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). He specializes in critical mineral exploration essential for the sustainable energy transition. Utilizing his expertise in artificial intelligence and resource forecasting, Mr. Kloeckner leads initiatives that strive to align with global sustainability goals.
Jonas earned his PhD in Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil, where he later served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Geosciences. His doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on advancing geostatistical methods for Earth resources forecasting, significantly contributing to the field.
Previously, Jonas was a Visiting Research Scholar at Stanford University under the mentorship of Professor Jef Caers. He holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering from UFRGS, with additional international studies at Ecole des Mines d’Alès, France, and as a visiting student at Columbia University, USA.
Jonas’s current research integrates spatial data analysis with advanced decision-making processes in subsurface systems, enhancing resource management strategies and supporting sustainable mining practices. Beyond academia, he actively collaborates on various international projects, optimizing resource extraction and minimizing environmental impacts through innovative technology and interdisciplinary collaboration. -
Fa Li
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioMy research combines advanced data-driven approaches (e.g., GeoAI and causality inference), process-based terrestrial biosphere/Earth system models, and big datasets and techniques of remote sensing, in-situ measurements, geographical information science (GIS), and high-performance computing, to investigate critical processes related to natural greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., CO2 and CH4) and nature-based climate solution, wildfire-human-climate interactions, human-environment interactions, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon-water-energy fluxes affecting climate change.
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Mengze Li
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsatmospheric gases: trends and emissions, such as methane, volatile organic compounds.
atmospheric observations: ground, airborne, satellite remote sensing.
atmospheric measurement techniques.
atmospheric modeling.
indoor air chemistry and human emissions.
climate change. -
Zhi Li
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioZhi “Allen” Li is the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Dean’s Postdoc Fellow. He studies surface water across scales, both spatially (local, continental, and global) and temporally (Hydrology, Hydrometeorology, and Hydroclimatology). His research focuses on flood prediction and monitoring by leveraging Remote Sensing platforms and Hydrologic-Hydraulic coupled models. He devotes himself to improving flood monitoring tools to deliver accurate and timely information for the community, especially under-represented communities.
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Cheng Mei
Postdoctoral Scholar, Geophysics
BioMy research focuses on solid earth geophysics, particularly earthquake physics, induced seismicity, and rock friction. I employ a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating theoretical, numerical, and experimental models, to uncover the patterns, mechanisms, and impacts of natural earthquakes and induced seismicity in enhanced geothermal systems and other subsurface engineering systems. I am developing a macroscopic framework that incorporates multiple important controls, such as velocity, temperature, normal stress, fluid diffusion, and surface roughness. I believe this work would contribute significantly to understanding and mitigating seismic risks.
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Aqsa Naeem
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Resources Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnergy System Modeling and Optimization
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Josheena Naggea
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsJosheena is an André Hoffmann Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions and the World Economic Forum Centre. Her current work is focused on centering blue justice and equity for ocean innovations in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture. Her community-engaged research has focused on climate change adaptation, marine protected area management, disaster impacts and recovery, and the valorization of natural and cultural heritage in ocean governance. She has a keen interest in understanding people-ocean connections and how they influence coastal livelihoods, local environmental stewardship, and food security.
She is also an IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) fellow on the Transformative Change Assessment, investigating the determinants of transformative change and pathways for achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.
Josheena holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford University. Her doctoral work aimed to support ocean governance in the Western Indian Ocean, with a focus on the Republic of Mauritius, her home country. She is presently a national steering committee member of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Mauritius, where she continues to support community-led efforts for sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation. -
Alireza Namayandeh
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Namayandeh's research interests are centered around three primary areas: 1) the formation and transformation of natural nanoparticles, 2) their interaction with contaminants and nutrients in the Earth's surface environment, and 3) how these interactions impact human health. He is currently studying the generation of toxic metals in soils at extremely high temperatures. He is also involved in solving global and environmental health problems, particularly in low-income countries. He is working on a project in Bangladesh focusing on lead exposure.
He is also interested to integrate environmental justice into his research. He conducts Eco-theater workshops at Stanford, in which participants create performing arts about the social aspects of California wildfires, including the impact on underrepresented groups such as inmate firefighters. -
Lane D. Smith
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Science and Engineering
BioLane D. Smith is a postdoctoral scholar working with the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University. His research interests include energy policy, electricity rate design, energy affordability, and macro-energy systems (with a particular focus on the electric grid). Lane holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington (2024 and 2019, respectively) and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Denver (2018).
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Suihong Song
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Resources Engineering
BioSuihong Song collaborates with Professor Tapan Mukerji at the Stanford Center for Earth Resources Forecast (SCERF) as a postdoctoral scholar. His research is centered on integrating machine learning with geosciences, specifically focusing on machine learning-based reservoir characterization and geomodelling, Physics-informed Neural Networks (PINNs) and neural operators as well as their applications in porous flow simulations, neural networks-based surrogate and inversion, decision-making under uncertainty, and machine learning-based geological interpretation of well logs and seismic data. These research endeavors have practical applications in managing underground water resources, oil and gas exploration, geological storage of CO2, and the evaluation of hydrothermal and natural hydrogen, among others.Song proposed GANSim, an abbreviation for Generative Adversarial Networks-based reservoir simulation, which presents a reservoir geomodelling workflow. This innovative approach has been successfully implemented in various 3D field reservoirs by international oil companies, including ExxonMobil.
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Rafael Stern
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioRafael Stern was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is 35 years old, and married to Gal. Rafael has a BSc in Geography from the Geosciences Department of Universidade Federal Fluminense, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has a MSc from the Climate and Environment Department of the National Institute of Amazon Research in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, with the supervision of prof. Paulo Artaxo, and he measured the physical and chemical properties of atmospheric particles during forest fires season in the Amazon rainforest. He has a PhD from the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, with the supervision of prof. Dan Yakir, and he used a mobile eddy covariance station to compare the biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects of different ecosystems and of PV fields on drylands.
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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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Mele Wheaton
Associate Director of Program Strategy, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources
Current Role at StanfordAssociate Director of Program Strategy (E-IPER)
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Philip Womble
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioPhilip Womble is an attorney and a hydrologist specializing in water policy and water markets. He is a legal/postdoctoral fellow with the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Philip received his Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from Stanford and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where his research evaluated optimal environmental water rights marketing in the Upper Colorado River Basin, barriers to water marketing in the state of Colorado, and Native American groundwater claims across the western United States. His work has been published in journals such as Science, Water Resources Research, and the Harvard Environmental Law Review. During graduate school, Philip worked for the Special Master in the U.S. Supreme Court interstate water dispute Montana v. Wyoming, The Nature Conservancy's Colorado River Program, and a water law firm. Before graduate school, he worked for the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC, where he analyzed the most established market for freshwater ecosystem services in the United States – wetland and stream compensatory mitigation under the Clean Water Act. Philip grew up in North Carolina, where he received his B.S. in Environmental Sciences from UNC-Chapel Hill.
