Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 1-100 of 159 Results
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Sara Alibakhshi
Affiliate, Earth System Science
BioI recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Helsinki, where I honed my expertise in Geoinformatics and remote sensing. My work focuses on using cutting-edge satellite and airborne sensor data, combined with advanced spatial analysis and machine learning, to better understand and mitigate environmental challenges such as climate change, land-use transformation, and biodiversity decline. Passionate about bridging technology and ecology, I collaborate across disciplines to translate geospatial insights into actionable solutions for sustainable resource management and conservation.
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Kevin Arrigo
Donald and Donald M. Steel Professor of Earth Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsInvestigates role of ocean biology in gobal carbon and nutrient cycles.
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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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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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Kevin Boyce
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy, of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPaleontology/Geobiology; Fossil record of plant physiology and development; Evolution of terrestrial ecosystems including fungi, animals, and environmental feedbacks with the biota
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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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Steffen Buessecker
Physical Science Research Scientist
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research interests revolve around the co-evolution of microbial life and Earth processes, the relation of these to the planetary climate, as well as astrobiology. In the spirit of SDSS, I am also passionate about seeking solutions for global climate change by focusing on greenhouse gas removal. I see high potential in the carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide consumption by enhanced mineral-microbial catalysis – processes that have been controlling gas fluxes since billions of years.
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Marshall Burke
Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, at the Woods Institute for the Environment, at SIEPR and Associate Professor, by courtesy of Earth System Science
BioMarshall Burke is an associate professor in Global Environmental Policy unit in the Doerr School of Sustainability, deputy director at the Center on Food Security and the Environment, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Woods Institute, and SIEPR at Stanford University. He is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a co-founder of AtlasAI, a remote sensing start-up. His research focuses on social and economic impacts of environmental change and on measuring and understanding economic development in emerging markets. His work has appeared in both economic and scientific journals, including recent publications in Nature, Science, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and The Lancet. He holds a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in international relations from Stanford University.
Prospective students should see my personal webpage, linked at right. -
Adam Burnett
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Summer 2019
BioI grew up in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 2018 with an undergraduate degree in physics. I am broadly interested in atmospheric dynamics, idealized modeling, and climate change. My current research uses aquaplanet simulations to explore what factors determine global tropical cyclone frequency. My hobbies include hiking, birdwatching, and playing the piano.
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Jen Burney
Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
BioJennifer (Jen) Burney is a Professor in Global Environmental Policy and Earth System Science in the Doerr School of Sustainability. Her research focuses on the coupled relationships between climate and food security – measuring air pollutant emissions and concentrations, quantifying the effects of climate and air pollution on land use and food systems, understanding how food production and consumption contribute to climate change, and designing and evaluating technologies and strategies for adaptation and mitigation among the world’s farmers. Her research group combines methods from physics, ecology, statistics, remote sensing, economics, and policy to understand critical scientific uncertainties in this coupled system and to provide evidence for what will – or won’t – work to simultaneously end hunger and stabilize earth’s climate. She earned a PhD in physics in 2007, completed postdoctoral fellowships in both food security and climate science, and was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011; prior to joining the Doerr School, she served on the faculty at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
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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. -
Ken Caldeira
Visiting Scholar, Earth System Science
Affiliate,BioKen Caldeira is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He is the Coordinator of the Conceptual Investigations Unit of Steve Davis’s Sustainable Solutions Lab. Caldeira is also a Senior Scientist at Gates Ventures.
Prior to working at Gates Ventures, Ken was Senior Scientist at Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Global Ecology. Preceding that he was in the Energy and Environment Directorate of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He did a postdoc in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State University. He has a PhD and MS from New York University in Atmospheric Sciences, and a BA from Rutgers University where he majored in Philosophy. -
Christopher Callahan
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioPersonal website (more frequently updated): https://christophercallahan.me
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Karen Casciotti
Associate Dean for Facilities and Shared Labs, Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor in Oceans and ESS, focus on marine chemistry and biogeochemistry.
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Page Chamberlain
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
I use stable and radiogenic isotopes to understand Earth system history. These studies examine the link between climate, tectonics, biological, and surface processes. Projects include: 1) examining the terrestrial climate history of the Earth focusing on periods of time in the past that had CO 2-levels similar to the present and to future projections; and 2) addressing how the chemical weathering of the Earth's crust affects both the long- and short-term carbon cycle. Field areas for these studies are in the Cascades, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, the European Alps, Tibet and the Himalaya and the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
International Collaborations
Much of the research that I do has an international component. Specifically, I have collaborations with: 1) the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt Germany as a Humboldt Fellow and 2) the Chinese University of Geosciences in Bejiing China where I collaborate with Professor Yuan Gao.
Teaching
I teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in isotope biogeochemistry, Earth system history, and the relationship between climate, surface processes and tectonics.
Professional Activities
Editor American Journal of Science; Co-Director Stanford Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory (present);Chair, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences (2004-07); Co-Director Stanford/USGS SHRIMP Ion microprobe facility (2001-04) -
Jing Cheng
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioPostdoctoral Scholar | climate change impacts and adaption | net-zero energy and food systems | air pollution | CDR |
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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. -
Giulio De Leo
Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am a theoretical ecologist mostly interested in investigating factors and processes driving the dynamics of natural and harvested populations and on how to use this knowledge to inform practical management. I have worked broadly on life histories analysis, fishery management, dynamics and control of infectious diseases and environmental impact assessment.
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Anne Dekas
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and, by courtesy, of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnvironmental microbiology, deep-sea microbial ecology, marine biogeochemistry
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Noah Diffenbaugh
Kara J Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Noah S. Diffenbaugh is an Editor of the peer-review journal Geophysical Research Letters, and a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a recipient of the James R. Holton Award from the American Geophysical Union, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and a Terman Fellowship from Stanford University. He has also been recognized as a Kavli Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and as a Google Science Communication Fellow.
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Rodolfo Dirzo
Associate Dean for Integrative Initiatives in Environmental Justice, Bing Prof in Environmental Science, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological and evolutionary aspects of plant-animal interactions, largely but not exclusively, in tropical forest ecosystems.
Conservation biology in tropical ecosystems.
Studies on biodiversity.
Education, at all levels, on scientific practice, ecology and biodiversity conservation. -
Xinyu Dou
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioStanford Energy Fellow
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Jeff Dukes
Professor (By Courtesy) Of Earth System Sciences And Of Biology, Earth System Science
BioJeff Dukes is a senior staff scientist in the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science, and a Professor (by courtesy) in the Departments of Biology and Earth System Science at Stanford University. Dr. Dukes’s research examines how plants and ecosystems respond to a changing environment, focusing on topics from invasive species to climate change. Much of his experimental work seeks to inform and improve climate models. Dr. Dukes received a Ph.D from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, both in Biological Sciences. He has been elected a Fellow and named a Public Engagement Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Before coming to Stanford and Carnegie, he was a professor at Purdue University, where he held the Belcher Chair for Environmental Sustainability in the College of Agriculture and directed the Purdue Climate Change Research Center.
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Scott Fendorf
Terry Huffington Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Integrative Initiatives, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor of Photon Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSoil and environmental biogeochemistry
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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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Chris Field
Melvin and Joan Lane Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment & Professor of Earth System Science, of Biology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute and at the Precourt Institute
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My field is climate-change science, and my research emphasizes human-ecological interactions across many disciplines. Most studies include aspects of ecology, but also aspects of law, sociology, medicine, or engineering. -
Stephanie Fischer
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Autumn 2022
Ph.D. Minor, Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
Grad OCT, Hume CenterBioStephanie Fischer (she/her) is a Ph.D. student with the Behavioral Decisions and the Environment group with Dr. Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, and is a Ph.D. minor with the Center for Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity. She is largely interested in community-led solutions that bolster adaptive capacity in the face of acute disasters and chronic climate hazards, and the ways culture and identity play a pivotal role in achieving holistic well-being and transformative climate justice.
Stephanie also holds a B.A. in Music Composition and a B.A. in Earth Systems (Human Environmental Systems) from Stanford University. -
Christopher Francis
Professor of Earth System Science, of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMicrobial cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and metals in the environment; molecular geomicrobiology; marine microbiology; microbial diversity; meta-omics
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TJ Francisco
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Autumn 2023
BioI primarily work with reptiles and amphibians in forests and agroecological landscapes to investigate the consequences of land use changes on species interactions, invasions, and biodiversity. In Costa Rica, I research the effects of strategically diversifying oil palm farms on herpetofauna diversity and habitat quality. I am interested in the interconnections between political ecology, food sovereignty, and wildlife conservation.
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Tadashi Fukami
Professor of Biology and of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological and evolutionary community assembly, with emphasis on understanding historical contingency in community structure, ecosystem functioning, biological invasion and ecological restoration, using experimental, theoretical, and comparative methods involving bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals.
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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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Anna Gomes
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Autumn 2020
BioMy main interests lie within anthropogenic climate change, environmental science, and agriculture. The complex system dynamics and interconnections between agriculture and the environment including nutrient cycling, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions are a few of the most critical challenges for today's soil scientists. After completing a master’s degree in Sustainability Science and Environmental Studies at Lund University in Sweden, researching farmer adoption of practices which mitigate GHGs from arable soils in the Netherlands at Wageningen University, I started a PhD in Earth System Science at Stanford University, aiming to focus on soil and environmental biogeochemistry. In parallel to my work in academia, I have been working on a start-up to address food waste and food insecurity in CA (Ugly Food Market), in addition to being a team member on several projects including a sharing library (Circle Centre), a soil science educational platform (Soil Life), and other sustainability related initiatives.
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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 -
Steven Gorelick
Cyrus Fisher Tolman Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly Interests. Research : .
As a hydrologist, my research involves the study of water resources and water security with emphasis on freshwater. I direct the Global Freshwater Initiative, which studies water resources vulnerability problems throughout the world. We investigate the impacts of droughts on water-stressed regions by developing coupled human-natural systems models that explore the effects of climate, land-use, and demographic changes on urban and agricultural regions. We have produced useful tools to aid in sustainable agricultural and urban water management in the western US, Mexico, India, Jordan, and Vietnam. Although driven by observations, our conceptual and quantitative models lead us to rigorous understanding of physical processes, enable us to make predictions, and explore new water management policies, involving taxes, quotas, subsidies, water rights, and water markets. Such models have provided means to better quantify the influence of droughts and floods, particularly on vulnerable communities and then importantly to identify equitable water management strategies. .
. - Teaching :
. I teach courses for graduate and undergraduate students involving principles and methods used in physical and contaminant hydrogeology. In addition, I run a seminar series that exposes students to a variety of multidisciplinary topics involving hydrology and water resources. .
: - Professional Activities :
. 2021-2022 von Humboldt Fellow-Germany, 2022-23 Fulbright Fellow - Distinguished Chair in Science, Technology and Innovation, Australian-American Program, 2016 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014 Best Paper in Environmental Research Letters in 2014 (Padowski and Gorelick, (2014), 2013 Editor's Choice Award, Water Resources Research for paper Srinivasan et al., (2012), Member, US National Academy of Engineering (2012), International Fellow, Institute for Environmental Science and Research (ESR) (2011), New Zealand, Fulbright Senior Scholar (2008-09); Chester C. Keisel Memorial Lecturer, University of Arizona (2008); Best Paper Award in Computers and Geosciences, International Association for Mathematical Geology (2006); fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2005); Stanford representative to the Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences (2005-2008); M. King Hubbert Science Award, NGWA (2004); Ineson Distinguished Lecturer (1998); Fulbright Senior Scholar (1997); O.E. Meinzer Award, GSA (1994) James B. Macelwane medal, AGU (1990); Fellow, GSA (1988) and AGU (1990); Editorial Board, Optimization and Engineering Journal (1990-present); visiting professor, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Ecological Engineering Laboratory (2006); visiting professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, jointly at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (2005); visiting scholar, University of Cambridge, Zoology (2007); visiting scientist, CSIRO, Perth, Australia (2009); Member AGU Water and Society Technical Committee (2011-present) visiting professor, University of Western Australia Centre for Ecohydrology (2012); visiting professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (2013, 2019) -
Brian Green
Physical Science Research Scientist
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy current research is on the dynamics and circulation of the stratosphere, focusing on quantifying the sources and effects of gravity waves. More broadly, I'm interested in and curious about a large range of topics relating to tropical climate, clouds, and the general circulation of the atmosphere and ocean.
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Elizabeth Hadly
Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology and Professor of Earth System Science, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsElizabeth Hadly and her lab probe how perturbations such as climatic change and human modification of the environment influence the evolution and ecology of animals.
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Alex Hedgpeth
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioAlexandra Hedgpeth is a biogeochemist whose research explores how soil carbon cycling in peatlands responds to environmental change. Her work focuses on understanding the mechanisms that regulate carbon storage and greenhouse gas production in both tropical and boreal wetlands, with a particular emphasis on the vulnerability of deep, ancient carbon to modern surface inputs and hydrologic shifts.
Through her Ph.D. research at the University of California, Los Angeles, Alex has developed and applied novel isotopic and geochemical approaches—including implementing radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analyses, and high-resolution molecular characterization—to trace the sources and fates of carbon in peat soils. Her fieldwork spans a range of ecosystems, from ombrotrophic bogs in the Arctic to saturated tropical peat domes in Central America. This comparative framework allows her to identify unifying controls on carbon preservation and loss across climate zones.
Alex's research integrates field measurements, laboratory experiments, and synthesis of global datasets. She is a key contributor to multi-institutional efforts to model peatland carbon cycling under climate change scenarios, including DOE- and NSF-supported initiatives. Her work helps clarify the role of peatlands as both long-term carbon sinks and potential sources of atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄ under future disturbance.
In addition to her scientific contributions, Alex is committed to collaborative, interdisciplinary research and has worked closely with partners at national laboratories, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and international data synthesis networks. She is especially interested in questions with high uncertainty and high relevance to climate feedbacks—such as thresholds in biogeochemical function and the persistence of deep soil carbon under hydrologic change. -
Natalie Herbert
Social Science Research Scholar
BioNATALIE HERBERT is a Research Scientist in the Department of Earth Systems Science at the Doerr School of Sustainability. Her research investigates decision-making in the face of environmental risk. She completed her Ph.D. in 2020 at the Annenberg School for Communication, where she researched health and science communication with a focus on communicating scientific uncertainty. Natalie was a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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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 Colorado (fire / rescue / EMS). My current work involves two major thrusts: 1) I use data science strategies to decipher links between groundwater overuse and groundwater quality in Colorado. 2) I investigate the geochemical character of wildfire smoke by hybridizing analyses of physical samples with various geospatial datasets and atmospheric particle transport models. I love working in environmental systems because they are complex, and offer numerous opportunities to blend the physical and computational sciences.
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Alison Hoyt
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioAlison Hoyt is an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at Stanford. Her work focuses on understanding how biogeochemical cycles respond to human impacts, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable and least understood carbon stocks in the tropics and the Arctic. For more information, please visit her group website here: https://carboncycle.stanford.edu/
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Rob Jackson
Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioRob Jackson and his lab examine the many ways people affect the Earth. They produce basic scientific knowledge and use it to help shape policies and reduce the environmental footprint of global warming, energy extraction, and other environmental issues. They're currently examining the effects of climate change and drought on old-growth forests. They are also working to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the Global Carbon Project (globalcarbonproject.org), which Jackson chairs. Examples of new research Rob leads include establishing a global network of methane tower measurements across the Amazon and more than 100 sites worldwide and measuring and reducing methane emissions and air pollution from oil and gas wells, city streets, and homes and buildings.
Rob's new book on climate solutions, Into the Clear Blue Sky (Scribner and Penguin Random House), was named a "Top Science Book of 2024" by The Times. As an author and photographer, Rob has published a previous trade book about the environment (The Earth Remains Forever, University of Texas Press), two books of children’s poems, Animal Mischief and Weekend Mischief (Highlights Magazine and Boyds Mills Press), and recent or forthcoming poems in the journals Southwest Review, Cortland Review, Cold Mountain Review, Atlanta Review, LitHub, and more. His photographs have appeared in many media outlets, including the NY Times, Washington Post, USA Today, US News and World Report, Science, Nature, and National Geographic News.
Rob is a recent Djerassi artist in residence, Guggenheim Fellow, and sabbatical visitor in the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is also a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, and Ecological Society of America. He received a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from the National Science Foundation, awarded at the White House. -
Zachary Kaufman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioMy research as a climate scientist seeks to understand the physical processes that shape the polar regions. The high latitudes are undergoing the largest changes on Earth; in recent decades, Arctic temperatures have warmed at twice the global average, while 2023 featured the lowest Antarctic sea-ice extent on record. Policymakers’ ability to manage the consequences of these changes requires improved polar climate predictability. Rapidly declining Arctic Sea ice exposes new economic resources and shipping routes, necessitating a detailed understanding of where and how quickly newly open water will appear. In the Antarctic, the instability-prone West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have large future contributions to sea-level rise, but predicting the timing and magnitude of ice sheet melt requires a better understanding of how Antarctic warming trends will progress. To address these scientific priorities, my research characterizes ocean-ice sheet interactions, ventilation of the deep ocean, and coupled atmosphere-ocean variability, among other phenomena. A common theme across my work is the use of data-driven techniques to reconcile discrepancies between models and observations, identifying key areas for improving future generations of climate models.
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Makoto Kelp
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioNOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2025)
Ph.D. - Harvard Univerity (2023)
B.A. - Reed College (2016) -
Julie Kennedy
Professor (Teaching) of Earth System Science, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
For the past 21 years I have been active in designing and running the school's interdisciplinary environmental science and policy undergraduate major, the Earth Systems Program. I have specific interest in interdisciplinary teaching and learning, and in the effective communication of complex interdisciplinary problem descriptions, analysis methods, and solutions to expert and non-expert audiences. I advise and work on research projects with undergraduate and master's level students whose interests include ecology, energy, land systems management, ocean science and policy, sustainability, environmental education, and science communication.
Teaching
I teach classes in interdisciplinary problem analysis and in critical reading and review of environmental literature. I also am one of a number of faculty who co-teach the Earth Systems gateway course, Introduction to Earth Systems.
Professional Activities
My professional activities center on undergraduate education. I have been active for decades on Stanford committees that examine standards and policies, the review of general education requirements, undergraduate advising programs, student mental health, and student diversity. -
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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Jack Lamb
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Autumn 2021
BioJack Lamb is a PhD student working under Professor Alison Hoyt in the Earth System Science department. He is interested in developing low-cost instrumentation networks for effective ground-truthing and upscaling of satellite imagery.
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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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Fa Li
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioMy research investigates wildfires/climate extremes, greenhouse gases emissions, and nature-based solutions by combining data-driven approaches (e.g., physically interpretable AI and causality inference), process-based terrestrial biosphere/Earth system models, and big data (e.g., remote sensing, in-situ measurements).
For example, together with our collaborators at Stanford and beyond, I play a leading role in FLUXNET-CH₄ V2.0, a global network of eddy covariance measurements, to enhance the monitoring of ecosystem carbon (CO2 and CH4)-water-energy fluxes and support Global Carbon Project. These observations are not only important for carbon science, but also for AI in Earth science because "Data is the foundation of AI"–I believe.
I develop physically interpretable AI, integrating scientific principles to improve reliability, particularly when solving critical challenges such as climate and wildfire prediction. Because "black-box AI" with low "physical interpretability" often concerns me, why? -
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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Stephanie M. Lim
Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science, admitted Autumn 2019
BioI am a biological oceanographer studying the response of ice algae, phytoplankton, and biogeochemical cycles to climate change in the polar oceans. My personal website is https://slim8288.github.io
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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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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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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.
