Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 801-850 of 1,348 Results
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Gerald Mavko
Professor (Research) of Geophysics, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
I work to discover and understand the relationship between geophysical measurements and the rock and fluid properties that they sample in the Earth. My students and I have begun to understand the impact of rock type, porosity, pore fluids, temperature, and stress on seismic wave propagation and electromagnetic response. We are also working to quantify the links between geophysical measurements and the sedimentary and diagenetic processes that determine rock mineralogy and texture. Ultimately, this work allows us to better infer, from geophysical images, the composition and physical conditions at depth.
Teaching
I teach courses for graduate and undergraduate students on rock physics--the study of the physical properties of rocks and how they can be detected and mapped using seismic and electrical methods. This includes theory, laboratory measurements, and field data analysis. I also lead seminars in which students present and critique their ongoing research in rock physics.
Professional Activities
Associate chair, Department of Geophysics (2006-2008); distinguished lecturer, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2006); honorary membership, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2001); nominated for Reginald Fessenden Award, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2000); School of Earth Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award (2000) -
Eric Mayer
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioEnding catastrophic wildfires by making biochar.
Eric Mayer earned a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University (2020), where he studied fluid mechanics and published research parameterizing lee-wave drag for ocean circulation models, tangentially improving global climate simulations.
Graduating in the early months of the pandemic and eager to act on the implications of his research, Eric went looking for a more immediate way to effect the climate crisis. Upon learning of biochar’s potential for rapidly-scalable carbon sequestration and the simple technologies already developed for on-site biochar production, Eric founded the biochar-as-a-service company Napachar. Today, you can find Napachar in the vineyards and forests of Napa and Sonoma, California, diverting pulled vines and forestry slash from burn piles to bake in flame-cap biochar kilns, returning "waste" carbon to the soil.
Beginning in the spring of 2026, Eric returned to Stanford in a postdoctoral position with the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator, with the mission of ending catastrophic wildfire in fire-adapted forests by making biochar. -
David Thomas McColl
Affiliate, Energy Science & Engineering
BioDavid McColl is the Executive Director of Stanford Climate Ventures. He received a B.S. in Management Science & Engineering and an M.S. in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University. He is an Adjunct Professor in Energy Resources Engineering, a research fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance, and a partner at Echelon.
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Michael McFaul
Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAmerican foreign policy, great power relations, comparative autocracies, and the relationship between democracy and development.
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Paul McIntyre
Rick and Melinda Reed Professor, Professor of Photon Science and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioMcIntyre's group performs research on nanostructured inorganic materials for applications in electronics, energy technologies and sensors. He is best known for his work on metal oxide/semiconductor interfaces, ultrathin dielectrics, defects in complex metal oxide thin films, and nanostructured Si-Ge single crystals. His research team synthesizes materials, characterizes their structures and compositions with a variety of advanced microscopies and spectroscopies, studies the passivation of their interfaces, and measures functional properties of devices.
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Audrey McManemin
Ph.D. Student in Energy Science and Engineering, admitted Spring 2025
BioAudrey is pursuing a master's degree in Energy Science & Engineering and is expecting to graduate in Spring 2025. She holds a B.S.E in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and has previously worked in data engineering. Her research at Stanford focuses on evaluating methane detection and quantification technologies currently used in both commercial and academic applications.
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Mark Patrick McVay
Temp - Non-Exempt, Contingent
Staff, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability - Dean's OfficeBioMark joined Stanford Energy in January of 2020 to focus on business model innovation supporting energy transformation. He is working with students and faculty throughout Stanford on efforts to create solutions for Carbon Reduction and Sustainability goals in large organizations. He is now working with Doerr School of Sustainability on external relations. Mark has spent his career in energy starting as a nuclear power engineer aboard an aircraft carrier. He most recently helped build and sell the energy analytics firm PowerAdvocate and currently serves on the boards of several energy related small companies. Mark earned an MBA from the Stanford GSB and an MS from the School of Engineering. He has a BS from the US Naval Academy.
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Doug Meisenheimer
Lab Manager - Micro-CT Facility, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability - Dean's Office
Current Role at StanfordResearch Scientist and Lab Manager for the MicroCT (MCT) and Mineralogy & Petrology (M&P) shared labs in the Doerr School of Sustainability.
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Nicholas Melosh
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
BioThe Melosh group explores how to apply new methods from the semiconductor and self-assembly fields to important problems in biology, materials, and energy. We think about how to rationally design engineered interfaces to enhance communication with biological cells and tissues, or to improve energy conversion and materials synthesis. In particular, we are interested in seamlessly integrating inorganic structures together with biology for improved cell transfection and therapies, and designing new materials, often using diamondoid molecules as building blocks.
My group is very interested in how to design new inorganic structures that will seamless integrate with biological systems to address problems that are not feasible by other means. This involves both fundamental work such as to deeply understand how lipid membranes interact with inorganic surfaces, electrokinetic phenomena in biologically relevant solutions, and applying this knowledge into new device designs. Examples of this include “nanostraw” drug delivery platforms for direct delivery or extraction of material through the cell wall using a biomimetic gap-junction made using nanoscale semiconductor processing techniques. We also engineer materials and structures for neural interfaces and electronics pertinent to highly parallel data acquisition and recording. For instance, we have created inorganic electrodes that mimic the hydrophobic banding of natural transmembrane proteins, allowing them to ‘fuse’ into the cell wall, providing a tight electrical junction for solid-state patch clamping. In addition to significant efforts at engineering surfaces at the molecular level, we also work on ‘bridge’ projects that span between engineering and biological/clinical needs. My long history with nano- and microfabrication techniques and their interactions with biological constructs provide the skills necessary to fabricate and analyze new bio-electronic systems.
Research Interests:
Bio-inorganic Interface
Molecular materials at interfaces
Self-Assembly and Nucleation and Growth -
Anna M. Michalak
Visiting Scholar, Earth System Science
Affiliate, Konings ProgramBioDr. Anna M. Michalak is the Founding Director of the Carnegie Climate and Resilience Hub at the Carnegie Institution for Science, where she has been a Faculty Member since 2011 and served as Director of the Department of Global Ecology for 2020-2023. Michalak also holds appointments as Professor (by courtesy) in the Department of Earth System Science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Prior to joining Carnegie, she was the Frank and Brooke Transue Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.Sc.(Eng.) in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph, Canada.
Dr. Michalak studies the cycling and emissions of greenhouse gases at the Earth surface at urban to global scales – scales directly relevant to informing climate and policy – primarily through the use of atmospheric observations that provide the clearest constraints at these critical scales. She also explores climate change impacts on freshwater and coastal water quality via influences on nutrient delivery to, and on conditions within, water bodies. Her approach is highly data-driven, with a common methodological thread being the development and application of spatiotemporal statistical data fusion methods for optimizing the use of limited in situ and remote sensing environmental data.
She is the lead author of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan, Co-Chair of the National Academies committee for the midterm assessment of the NASA decadal survey for Earth system observations from space, Co-Chair of the carbon and water advisory boards for Schmidt Sciences, Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society, and Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google Research. Previously, she was Editor of the journal Water Resources Research and Chair of the scientific advisory board for the European Integrated Carbon Observation System. She is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (nominated by NASA), the NSF CAREER award, the Leopold Fellowship in environmental leadership, and the American Geophysical Union’s Simpson Medal. -
Fiorenza Micheli
David and Lucile Packard Professor of Marine Science, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr Fiorenza Micheli is a marine ecologist and conservation biologist conducting research and teaching at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. Micheli’s research focuses on the processes shaping marine communities and incorporating this understanding in the management and conservation of marine ecosystems. She is a Pew Fellow, a fellow of the California Academy of Science and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, and past president of the Western Society of Naturalists.
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Elizabeth Miller
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStructural geology and tectonics. Evolution and deformation of continental crust and its sedimentary cover, plate tectonics and continental deformation, geochronology and thermochronology. Current interests in the Cordillera, northern circum-Pacific, Russia and Arctic regions.
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Jennifer Milne
Director, Advanced Research Projects, Precourt Institute for Energy
BioJennifer is a scientist with more than a decade's experience in identifying research needs in energy and shaping the energy research landscape at Stanford. Jennifer leads the Advanced Research Projects at the Precourt Institute for Energy, working with the Director of Precourt and other stakeholders to foster energy research to reduce greenhouse gases and enable the energy transition. In 2023, she joined the technology team of the Sustainability Accelerator, as a key team member tasked with identifying solutions with potential for impact across broad sustainability challenges.
Jennifer is a technical resource for energy related and carbon removal projects across the University and an advisor in the bioenergy area - this foundational experience she gained during her time as an energy analyst with the Global Climate and Energy Project. There, from 2007 onwards, she learned about energy supply, conversion, and exergy destruction. Jennifer led the bioenergy area of the portfolio and contributed more broadly to the development of a fundamental energy research portfolio across all energy areas. Prior to joining Global Climate and Energy Project she was a post-doctoral scholar at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Plant Biology, at Stanford University. Jennifer is a biochemist and plant biologist, with extensive expertise in carbohydrate chemistry. Her thesis work included the discovery of a new role for polysaccharides in guard cell wall function. Jennifer earned a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of York, U.K. and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (First Class Honors) from the University of Stirling, U.K. -
Liang Min
Managing Director Bits & Watts Initiative, Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Role at StanfordManaging Director for the Bits and Watts Initiative, Precourt Institute for Energy
Managing Director for the Net-Zero Alliance, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability -
Reginald Mitchell
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus
BioProfessor Mitchell's primary area of research is concerned with characterizing the physical and chemical processes that occur during the combustion and gasification of pulverized coal and biomass. Coals of interest range in rank from lignite to bituminous and biomass materials include yard waste, field and seed crop residues, lumber mill waste, fruit and nut crop residues, and municipal solid waste. Experimental and modeling studies are concerned with char reactivity to oxygen, carbon dioxide and steam, carbon deactivation during conversion, and char particle surface area evolution and mode of conversion during mass loss.
Mitchell’s most recent research has been focused on topics that will enable the development of coal and biomass conversion technologies that facilitate CO2 capture. Recent studies have involved characterizing coal and biomass conversion rates in supercritical water environments, acquiring the understanding needed to develop chemical looping combustion technology for applications to coals and biomass materials, and developing fuel cells that use coal or biomass as the fuel source. Studies concerned with characterizing coal/biomass blends during combustion and gasification processes are also underway.
Professor Mitchell retired from Stanford University in July 2020, after having served over 29 years as a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. -
Diana Moanga
Lecturer, Earth Systems Program
BioDiana A. Moanga, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Earth Systems Program at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability. She teaches courses in geographic information science (GIS), remote sensing, spatial analysis, and geospatial data science, including Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science, Advanced Concepts in Geographic Information Science, and Remote Sensing of Land, Biology and Global Change, and mentors undergraduate and graduate students through independent research.
Her teaching emphasizes applied, problem-based learning that connects geospatial methods to real-world environmental and societal questions. She designs GIS coursework around place-based analyses, spatial problem solving, cartographic communication, and independent student projects, with the goal of helping students move beyond learning software to understanding how spatial thinking can be used to investigate complex problems. In 2025, she received the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s Excellence in Teaching Award in recognition of her contributions to teaching, curriculum innovation, and student learning. Her approach to GIS education was also featured by Esri in the 2026 article, Making GIS Click: Lessons from a Stanford Classroom.
Dr. Moanga’s research spans coastal resilience, land system science, conservation, and coupled human–environment systems, with particular expertise in GIS, remote sensing, and spatial analysis. Her work examines how environmental and anthropogenic pressures reshape landscapes and coastal systems, including land-use and land-cover change, wildfire, flooding and coastal hazards, ecosystem services, and nature-based approaches to resilience. Across this work, she is particularly interested in developing spatial methods and decision-support frameworks that translate complex environmental data into information that can support conservation, planning, and climate resilience.
She earned her PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. Her doctoral research used geospatial methods to examine land-use and land-cover change across California, including the effects of conservation management on coastal lands, agricultural transitions in the Central Valley, and wildfire activity under changing climate conditions. She earned her MS in Marine Affairs and Policy and BA in Marine Affairs from the University of Miami, where her research included harmful algal blooms, coastal zone management, and coral conservation.
Before joining the Earth Systems faculty in 2023, Dr. Moanga was a postdoctoral researcher in Stanford’s Department of Earth System Science and at Florida International University’s Sea Level Solutions Center. -
J. Moldowan
Professor (Research) of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOrganic geochemistry; study of molecular fossils (biomarkers) and their use in petroleum system analysis, reservoir characterization, environmental monitoring, molecular paleontology, global change, petroleum biodegradation in reservoir. Studies of thermal cracking of petroleum by deep burial or catalytic alteration in deep source rocks and reservoirs by using diamondoids. Applications to unconventional petroleun exploration and development.
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Stephen Monismith
Obayashi Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Oceans
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHydrodynamics of lakes, estuaries, coral reefs, kelp forests and the coastal ocean
