Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 101-182 of 182 Results
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Dr. Arun Majumdar
Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Jay Precourt Professor, Professor of Mechanical Eng, of Energy Science & Eng, of Photon Science, Sr Fellow at Woods & Professor, by court, of Materials Science & Eng
BioDr. Arun Majumdar is the inaugural Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He is the Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor at Stanford University, a faculty member of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Science and Engineering, a Senior Fellow and former Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy and Senior Fellow (courtesy) of the Hoover Institution. He is also a faculty in Department of Photon Science at SLAC.
In October 2009, Dr. Majumdar was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the Founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), where he served until June 2012 and helped ARPA-E become a model of excellence and innovation for the government with bipartisan support from Congress and other stakeholders. Between March 2011 and June 2012, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, enabling the portfolio of Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability, Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy, as well as multiple cross-cutting efforts such as Sunshot, Grid Modernization Team and others that he had initiated. Furthermore, he was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, on a variety of matters related to management, personnel, budget, and policy. In 2010, he served on Secretary Chu's Science Team to help stop the leak of the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill.
Dr. Majumdar serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board of the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm. He led the Agency Review Team for the Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Biden-Harris Presidential transition. He served as the Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board of US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz, and was also a Science Envoy for the US Department of State with focus on energy and technology innovation in the Baltics and Poland. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and boards of businesses, investment groups and non-profit organizations.
After leaving Washington, DC and before joining Stanford, Dr. Majumdar was the Vice President for Energy at Google, where he assembled a team to create technologies and businesses at the intersection of data, computing and electricity grid.
Dr. Majumdar is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research in the past has involved the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and devices, especially in the areas of energy conversion, transport and storage as well as biomolecular analysis. His current research focuses on redox reactions and systems that are fundamental to a sustainable energy future, multidimensional nanoscale imaging and microscopy, and an effort to leverage modern AI techniques to develop and deliver energy and climate solutions.
Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Majumdar was the Almy & Agnes Maynard Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at University of California–Berkeley and the Associate Laboratory Director for energy and environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also spent the early part of his academic career at Arizona State University and University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Majumdar received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. -
David Thomas McColl
Adjunct Professor
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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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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Joel Moxley
Adjunct Professor
BioJoel Moxley is a Precourt Energy Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. He currently teaches Stanford Climate Ventures (Energy 203). Joel received his B.S.E in chemical engineering from Princeton University, and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute for Technology. He is Managing Partner at Echelon and a Venture Partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
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Tapan Mukerji
Professor (Research) of Energy Science Engineering, of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Geophysics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy students and I use theoretical, computational, and statistical models, to discover and understand fundamental relations between geophysical data and subsurface properties, to quantify uncertainty in our geomodels, and to address value of information for decision making under uncertainty.
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Aqsa Naeem
Physical Science Research Scientist
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnergy System Modeling and Optimization
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Simona Onori
Associate Professor of Energy Science Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsModeling, control and optimization of dynamic systems;
Model-based control in advanced propulsion systems;
Energy management control and optimization in HEVs and PHEVs;
Energy storage systems- Li-ion and PbA batteries, Supercapacitors;
Battery aging modeling, state of health estimation and life prediction for control;
Damage degradation modeling in interconnected systems -
Franklin M. ("Lynn") Orr, Jr.
Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor in Petroleum Engineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My students and I work to understand the physical mechanisms that control flow of multiphase, multicomponent fluids in the subsurface, using a combination of experiments and theory. The theory part includes numerical simulation of flow in heterogeneous porous rocks and coalbeds, often using streamline approaches, and it also involves solving by analytical methods the differential equations that describe the interactions of complex phase equilibrium and flow (porous rocks containing more than one flowing phase can sometimes act like a chromatograph, separating components as they flow). The experiments are used to test how well the models describe reality. Applications of this work range from enhanced oil and gas recovery to geologic storage of carbon dioxide (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) to the transport of contaminants in aquifers.
Teaching
I teach a courses for graduate students on the mathematics of multiphase, multicomponent flow in porous media and on the thermodynamics of phase behavior. I also teach an undergraduate course on energy for freshmen.
Professional Activities
Member, National Research Council Committee on Subsurface Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rocks, 2013-present, Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame; Member, Division Committee for the Division of Earth and Life Sciences of the National Research Council, 2012-present; Member, Energy Technology Innovation System Working Group, President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, 2010; Member, California Energy Future study committee (2009-2010); Member, NRC Committee on America's Energy Future (2007-2009); co-chair, Workshop on Basic Research Needs for the Geosciences, U.S. Dept. of Energy (2007); IOR Pioneer, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2006); Honorary Doctorate in Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland (2005); member, Advisory Board, Carbon Mitigation Initiative, Princeton University (2004-present); director, Global Climate & Energy Project, Stanford University; member, Faculty Leadership Committee, Stanford Institute for the Environment (2004-05); National Associate of the National Academies (2002); Robert Earl McConnell Award, AIME (2001); election to National Academy of Engineering (2000); member, Board of Directors, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (1999-2008); member, Provost's Committee on the Environment (1995-2004); member, Board of Directors, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (1987-present); Chair, Fellowships for Science and Engineering Advisory Panel, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (1990-present); -
Oluwatobi Raji
Research Asst - Graduate, Energy Science & Engineering
BioProficient in subsurface heat and flow simulation and its application in oil and gas production, carbon sequestration and geothermal energy generation.
Skilled in renewable energy process for electrical energy generation and thermal energy generation (batteries,capacitors,thermal cycles, solar cells).
Competent in Computer Programming (Matlab, C++ and Python). -
Frances Reuland
Ph.D. Student in Energy Science and Engineering, admitted Spring 2025
BioFran, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is a PhD student in Energy Science & Engineering at Stanford University. She completed her MS in the same department in 2025 and was named as a 2023 Knight Hennessy Scholar. Before becoming a Stanford student, she spent three years at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in Boulder, Colorado working on decarbonization solutions for the oil and gas sector. She has a particular focus on methane detection, mitigation, and policy solutions. Prior to RMI, she held a position at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, France working to support IEA's work on methane from the petroleum sector.
She is a graduate and varsity women's soccer player of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Fran earned a B.S. with High Honors in Environmental Science, a Chemistry minor, and a B.A. in Spanish. She has continued her love for competitive soccer career playing in France, Colorado, and California. -
Sarah Dawn Saltzer
Managing Director of SCCS, Energy Science & Engineering
Current Role at StanfordManaging Director Stanford Center for Carbon Storage
Managing Director Smart Fields Consortium
Managing Director SUETRI-B -
Celine Scheidt
Sr Res Engineer
BioCéline Scheidt has worked extensively in uncertainty modeling, sensitivity analysis, geostatistics and in the use of distance-based methods in reservoir modeling. She obtained her PhD at Strasbourg University and the IFP (France) in applied mathematics, with a focus on the use of experimental design and geostatistical methods to model response surfaces.
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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
Physical Science Research Scientist, Energy Science & Engineering
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Science and EngineeringBioSuihong 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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Catherine Spurin
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Resources Engineering
BioI am a postdoctoral researcher in the Energy Science & Engineering department. My current research is focused on understanding how subsurface heterogeneity can be exploited to increase the amount of CO2 that is residually trapped. This increases storage security and minimizes the spread of the CO2 plume. This research makes up part of the GeoCquest consortium with Melbourne University, Cambridge University and CO2CRC. My supervisors are Prof. Hamdi Tchelepi and Prof. Sally Benson.
I obtained my PhD from Imperial College London in 2021. My PhD thesis "Intermittent flow pathways for multiphase flow in porous media: a pore-scale perspective" explored how flow phenomena not included in the framework of Darcy's law extended to multiphase flow influence the propagation and trapping of fluids. My supervisors were Prof. Sam Krevor and Prof. Martin Blunt. My research was funded by the President's PhD scholarship at Imperial. -
Joanna Sun
Assistant Director of Student Services, Energy Science & Engineering
Current Role at StanfordStudent Services, Department of Energy Science and Engineering
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Dhruv Suri
Ph.D. Student in Energy Science and Engineering, admitted Spring 2023
BioDhruv Suri, from Delhi, India is pursuing a master’s degree in energy resources engineering at Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. He graduated from the Manipal Institute of Technology in India with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Dhruv aspires to work at the nexus of energy and climate, and help vulnerable communities overcome access barriers in India and other developing countries. He has worked as a visiting student researcher at the MIT D-Lab, and as a research assistant in Serbia, Singapore and the Netherlands. Dhruv is the co-founder of Candela Energy, a last-mile distribution organization providing rural villages access to life-improving products and has been awarded by ETH Student Project House in Switzerland and EarthTech in Australia.
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Daniel Tartakovsky
Professor of Energy Science Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnvironmental fluid mechanics, Applied and computational mathematics, Biomedical modeling.
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Hamdi Tchelepi
Max Steineke Professor and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCurrent research activities: (1) model and simulate unstable miscible and immiscible fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media, (2) develop multiscale numerical solution algorithms for coupled mechanics and multiphase fluid flow in large-scale subsurface formations, and (3) develop stochastic solution methods that quantify the uncertainty associated with predictions of fluid-structure dynamics in porous media.
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Edgar Virgüez
Research Engineer, Energy Science & Engineering
BioEdgar Virgüez is a Research Engineer in the Department of Energy Science & Engineering at Stanford University, where his work advances reliable, low-carbon energy systems. His research has resulted in more than 40 scholarly outputs and over 1,000 citations in leading journals, including Energy & Environmental Science, PNAS, and Science. He serves on the Editorial Board of Environmental Research: Energy and, in 2026, was awarded the IOP Publishing Editorial Excellence Award in recognition of his individual excellence and leadership, as one of 10 outstanding board leaders among more than 1,000 members across over 100 IOP journals. Beyond his editorial service, he contributes as a reviewer for more than 15 journals, including Nature Communications and Nature Sustainability.
Complementing his scholarship, Dr. Virgüez serves as Managing Director of the $23 million U.S. Department of Energy-funded EARNEST Consortium, led by Stanford University. This initiative brings together 16 universities, 3 national laboratories, and 2 research organizations to advance solutions for the future of the U.S. electricity system. Beyond EARNEST, he has worked with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, contributing expertise in life cycle assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and decarbonization strategies for governments.
Globally, Dr. Virgüez contributes to major energy and climate initiatives. Since 2024, he has served as an Expert Advisor to the Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince William, reviewing nominations in the Fix Our Climate category and assessing their potential for innovation, impact, and scalability toward a $1.25 million annual award. He also serves in advisory roles for institutions such as Schmidt Sciences, evaluating research programs advancing scalable decarbonization and energy systems solutions, and provides expert review of energy-related reports for organizations including the International Energy Agency.
For his contributions, Dr. Virgüez has received 22 awards totaling $34,365. Among his honors are the Science for Solutions Award (2025) from the American Geophysical Union, recognizing significant contributions to applying Earth and space science to societal challenges, and the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award (2020) from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which highlights scholars with strong promise as future leaders in higher education. As an educator, Dr. Virgüez has taught 17 courses to approximately 600 students, with consistently outstanding evaluations and recognition for innovative teaching. In 2021, he received the Graduate School Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from Duke University, the institution’s highest teaching honor for graduate scholars.
At the highest levels of university governance, he previously served on Duke University’s Board of Trustees, the institution’s top governing body and one of its most selective and distinguished leadership appointments. He continues this leadership through his service on the Nicholas School of the Environment Board of Visitors and the Climate Commitment Campaign Board at Duke University.
Dr. Virgüez holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Policy, with a Certificate in College Teaching (2022), and an M.A. in Environment, with a Geospatial Analysis Certificate (2018), from Duke University. He also holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering (2010) and dual B.Sc. degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering (2009) from Universidad de los Andes. He has completed professional certificates in Australia, the United States, and Colombia, and has received more than $795,000 in competitive scholarships and fellowships, including support from the Sloan Foundation. -
Diane Wade
RA, Research, Grants & Finance Manager, Energy Science & Engineering
BioDiane is a Research Finance Manager for the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. In this role, she oversees finance, grant, and affiliate management, including faculty financial portfolios and sponsored grants through all stages, from pre-award to post-award. She collaborates with faculty on research proposals and provides training to new Research Administrators to enhance their understanding of complex financial and sponsored research processes. Previously, she managed department budgets and affiliate faculty appointments.
In addition, Diane served as Interim Diversity Officer for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, where she led strategic DEI initiatives and managed project finances during the Associate Dean’s leave.
Diane’s academic background spans advertising, art, and mechanical engineering, complemented by an internship at NASA focused on building flight simulators. She also holds an MBA with a specialization in Finance and Strategic Management. -
John Weyant
Professor (Research) of Management Science and Engineering, of Energy Science Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioJohn P. Weyant is Professor of Management Science and Engineering and Director of the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy and an an affiliated faculty member of the Stanford School of Earth, Environment and Energy Sciences, the Woods Institute for the Environment, and the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford. His current research focuses on analysis of multi-sector, multi-region coupled human and earth systems dynamics, global change systems analysis, energy technology assessment, and models for strategic planning.
Weyant was a founder and serves as chairman of the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC), a seventeen-year old collaboration among over 60 member institutions from around the world. He has been an active adviser to the United Nations, the European Commission, U.S.Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In California, he has been and adviser to the California Air Resources, the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission..
Weyant was awarded the US Association for Energy Economics’ 2008 Adelmann-Frankel award for unique and innovative contributions to the field of energy economics and the award for outstanding lifetime contributions to the Profession for 2017 from the International Association for Energy Economics, and a Life Time Achievement award from the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium in 2018. Weyant was honored in 2007 as a major contributor to the Nobel Peace prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and in 2008 by Chairman Mary Nichols for contributions to the to the California Air Resources Board's Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee on AB 32.
Fields of Specialization:
Energy/Environmental Policy Analysis, Strategic Planning
Interests:
Overall goal is to accelerate the use of systems models at state, country, and global scales, aiming to provide the best available information and insights to government and private-sector decision makers. Specific areas include energy, climate change, and sustainable development policy, including emerging technologies and market design alternatives. Draws on concepts and techniques from science and engineering fundamentals (e.g., thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, materials science, and electrical power systems), operations research, economics, finance, and decision theory. -
Sandeep Yadav
Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Science and Engineering
BioSandeep Yadav is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. His research focuses on advancing sustainable energy systems, with an emphasis on techno-economic analysis and modeling of carbon capture retrofits for industrial decarbonization and energy efficiency. He earned his Ph.D. in Energy Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where he specialized in the techno-economic assessment of carbon capture technologies, data center cooling, and combined cooling and power systems. Sandeep is committed to supporting the global transition to low-carbon energy and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
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Xiaolin Zheng
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Energy Science Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering
BioProfessor Zheng received her Ph.D. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University (2006), B.S. in Thermal Engineering from Tsinghua University (2000). Prior to joining Stanford in 2007, Professor Zheng did her postdoctoral work in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Professor Zheng is a member of MRS, ACS and combustion institute. Professor Zheng received the TR35 Award from the MIT Technology Review (2013), one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers by the Foreign Policy Magazine (2013), 3M Nontenured Faculty Grant Award (2013), the Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) from the white house (2009), Young Investigator Awards from the ONR (2008), DARPA (2008), Terman Fellowship from Stanford (2007), and Bernard Lewis Fellowship from the Combustion Institute (2004).
