Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 101-139 of 139 Results
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Ayla Pamukcu
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy, of Geophysics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI have long been fascinated by magmas and volcanic eruptions, for reasons ranging from purely academic (trying to understand the magmatic construction of Earth’s crust) to purely practical (developing effective monitoring and mitigation strategies for volcanic eruptions). Consequently, my research revolves around understanding how, when, where, and why magmas are stored, evolve, and ultimately do (or do not!) erupt.
Within this context, I focus on two main themes: (1) the temporal, chemical, and physical, evolution of magmas, and (2) the interplay between magma storage conditions in the crust and magmatic processes. I employ a multi-faceted approach to explore these topics, integrating data from multiple scales and perspectives; my studies capitalize on information contained in field relations, crystal and melt inclusion textures (sizes, shapes, positions), crystal and volcanic glass geochemistry, geochronology, phase-equilibria and numerical modeling, and experiments. As a function of this approach, I am also engaged in the development of novel methods to address petrologic problems in new, better, and more refined ways than is currently possible.
A major focus of my research has been on supereruptions – gigantic explosive eruptions the likes of which we have never seen in recorded human history – but I am continually exploring other kinds of magmatic systems. I am currently particularly interested in the links (or lack thereof) between extrusive (i.e., erupted) and intrusive (i.e., unerupted) magmas, similarities/differences between large- and small-volume eruptions, and similarities/differences between magmas generated at different levels of the crust. I have also had a longstanding interest in the interactions and relationships between humans and their geologic surroundings (particularly volcanoes). -
Nidhi Utkarshbhai Patel
Ph.D. Student in Earth and Planetary Sciences, admitted Autumn 2023
BioPlants display enormous diversity of forms today that, have evolved over geological timescales after plants successfully colonized land. Currently, I am interested in learning more about evolutionary changes in plant structures including specialized reproductive organs of seed plants. I study plant fossil record from deep time and living plants with the aim to develop a better understanding of origins of plant reproductive structures and drivers of morphological evolution in plants. Previously, I have looked at spore-pollen record preserved in sedimentary rocks from Canada. These microscopic fossils and their distribution in space and time can help us elucidate the response of vegetation to past extinction events.
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Jonathan Payne
Dorrell William Kirby Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy goal in research is to understand the interaction between environmental change and biological evolution using fossils and the sedimentary rock record. How does environmental change influence evolutionary and ecological processes? And conversely, how do evolutionary and ecological changes affect the physical environment? I work primarily on the marine fossil record over the past 550 million years.
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Eliane Petersohn
Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, admitted Autumn 2022
BioI grew up in Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil, and, moved to Rio de Janeiro to join the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) years ago.
I have a strong grasp of the oil and gas industry, where I have been working for more than 15 years. I have a bachelor’s and master's degree in geology from the Federal University of Parana, Brazil and, I have become a public servant of the ANP, where I have held different technical and managerial positions. I spent these past 15 years working on the ANP’s large-scale strategic projects, conducting a geological evaluation for Brazil’s bidding rounds, and developing a multiyear geological and geophysical data acquisition plan for the Agency. I was also responsible for coordinating the first phase of the onerous assignment process, which authorized the Brazilian Government to onerously assign to NOC Petrobras up to 5 billion barrels of oil. I have also been directly involved in the location of two wells, which discovered two of the country's largest oil fields (Buzios and Mero fields). As a geologist researcher, my main objective aims at acquiring capabilities and developing the knowledge required to manage reservoirs to maximize oil recovery and extend the lifespan of oil fields as well as acquire a solid understanding of oil reservoir management to bring innovative knowledge to Brazil and help create guidelines to monitor oil field development and production in my country. -
David Pollard
The Barney and Estelle Morris Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research aims to understand how faults and fractures initiate and evolve in Earth's brittle crust, how they affect the flow of molten rock, groundwater, and hydrocarbons, and the crucial role faults and fractures play in earthquake generation, folding of sedimentary strata, and volcanic eruption.
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Matthew Reinhold
Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, admitted Autumn 2019
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPlanetary habitability, specifically looking into the effects of tidal heating as both a source of energy to maintain habitable climates, and as a means of keeping small, terrestrial worlds warm, and thus geologically active for long periods of time. In addition, I am interested in the physical, geological and chemical processes on exotic worlds, like Saturn's moon Titan. How do the climates of such worlds evolve, and what kinds of geologic features would they produce on the landscape?
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Dr Lynn J. Rothschild
Adjunct Professor, Earth & Planetary Sciences
BioLynn J. Rothschild, a research scientist at NASA Ames and Adjunct Professor at Stanford, is a passionate astrobiologist focusing on the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere especially in the context of the physical environment, while at the same time pioneering the use of synthetic biology to enable space exploration. A graduate of Yale, Indiana University and Brown, she has brought her imagination and creativity to the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, articulating a vision for the future of synthetic biology as an enabling technology for NASA’s missions, including human space exploration and astrobiology. From 2011 through 2019 she served as the faculty advisor of the award-winning Stanford-Brown iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine Competition) team, which has pioneered the use of synthetic biology to accomplish NASA’s missions, particularly focusing on the human settlement of Mars, and such innovative technologies as biomining, mycotecture, BioWires, making a biodegradable UAS (drone) and an Astropharmacy. Current funded projects include developing an on-demand, personalized Astropharmacy, mycotecture and a detoxification system for perchlorates. Her lab tested select plans in space on in the PowerCell secondary payload on the DLR EuCROPIS satellite. A past-president of the Society of Protozoologists, she is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, The California Academy of Sciences and the Explorer’s Club. She was awarded the Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association, and the Horace Mann Award from Brown University. She has been a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) fellow five times. Lynn is an Adjunct Professor in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. She frequently appears on documentaries, TV and radio, and lectures worldwide, including Windsor Castle, Comi Con, TechFestival and the Vatican, and debated de-extinction for an Intelligence Squared USA debate.
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Laura Schaefer
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy, of Geophysics
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsearly Earth atmosphere; planetary differentiation; rocky exoplanet atmospheric chemistry; planetary interiors; atmosphere-interior exchange on Earth-like planets; planetary habitability; Venus atmospheric evolution; volcanic gases on Io and volatile loss
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Erik Sperling
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Oceans
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe research interests in the Sperling Lab are Earth history and the evolution of life, and the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere. As such this research can generally be considered paleontology, insofar as paleontology encompasses all aspects of the history of life.
Consequently, we define our research agenda by the questions we are interested in, rather than the tools used. This research incorporates multiple lines of evidence, and multiple tools, to investigate questions in the history of life. These lines of evidence include fossil data, molecular phylogenetics, sedimentary geochemistry, and developmental and ecological data from modern organisms. Ultimately, the goal is to link environmental change with organismal and ecological response through the lens of physiology.
Our field research takes place all over the world--current areas include:
-NW Canada (Yukon and Northwest Territories): Research has been conducted on the early Neoproterozoic Fifteenmile Group, Cryogenian and Ediacaran Windermere Supergroup, and on the Ordovician-Devonian Road River Group in the southern Richardson Mountains
-Southern Canadian Cordillera: Work here has focused on the early Cambrian Mural Formation and its soft-bodied fauna.
-England and Wales: Cambrian-Silurian successions in the Welsh Basin
-Namibia: Ediacaran Nama Group
-Upwelling zones: We study the oxygen minimum zone offshore California as an analogue for ancient low-oxygen oceans. -
Jonathan Stebbins
Professor of Geological Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsstructure and dynamics of crystalline, glassy, and molten inorganic materials and how these relate to geologically and technologically important properties and processes; solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resoance (NMR); mineralogy; igneous petrology; glass science
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Sonia Tikoo-Schantz
Assistant Professor of Geophysics and, by courtesy, of Earth and Planetary Sciences
BioI utilize paleomagnetism and fundamental rock magnetism as tools to investigate problems in the planetary sciences. By studying the remanent magnetism recorded within rocks from differentiated planetary bodies, I can learn about core processes that facilitate the generation of dynamo magnetic fields within the Earth, Moon, and planetesimals. Determining the longevities and paleointensities of dynamo fields that initially magnetized rocks also provides insight into the long-term thermal evolution (i.e., effects of secular cooling) of planetary bodies. I also use paleomagnetism to understand impact cratering events, which are the most ubiquitous modifiers of planetary surfaces across the solar system. Impact events produce heat, shock, and sometimes hydrothermal systems that are all capable of resetting magnetization within impactites and target rocks via thermal, shock, and chemical processes. Therefore, I am able to use a combination of paleomagnetic and rock magnetic characterization to investigate shock pressures, temperatures, structural changes, and post-impact chemical alteration experienced by cratered planetary surfaces.
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Tiziana Vanorio
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy, of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsRock Physics, Fossil Energy Exploration, Volcanic and Geothermal Environments and Microseismicity
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Anjani D Varma
Assistant Director of Student Services, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Current Role at StanfordManages all aspects of graduate and undergraduate programs, such as policy interpretation, advising, problem-solving, and developing action plans to ensure student success. Provides comprehensive support to the department and graduate program by addressing various issues, including academic progress, funding inquiries, faculty advising concerns, personal wellness, and referrals to campus resources.
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Adrian A. Wackett
Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, admitted Autumn 2022
BioAdrian A. Wackett was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota (unceded Wahpekute/Dakota lands). He double majored in Chemistry and Geosciences at Trinity University (TX) before returning to Saint Paul and completing his MS degree in Land & Atmospheric Sciences (specifically pedology/biogeochemistry) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he studied global w'o'rming. Before coming to Stanford as an NSF GRFP Fellow he traveled extensively through Latin America and SE Asia (by bike) and worked as an independent researcher affiliated with the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Umeå University and the Climate Impacts Research Centre in Abisko, Sweden. He is broadly curious in learning how the world works, and this informs his outlook towards research. Previous topics of inquiry include: coupling ant bioturbation to the erosion and weathering of hillslope soils in SE Australia, exploring earthworm invasions and their deterministic effects on soil carbon stocks and forms in Fennoscandian and Alaskan forests, and examining the biogeochemical diversity of ‘black smoker’ plume particles at deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
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Jane Kathryn Willenbring
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and, by courtesy of Earth System Science
BioJane Willenbring joined Stanford as an Associate Professor in the summer of 2020. Jane is a geologist who solves problems related to the Earth surface. Her research is primarily done to understand the evolution of the Earth’s surface - especially how landscapes are affected by tectonics, climate change, and life. She and her research group use geochemical techniques, high-resolution topographic data, field observations, and, when possible, couple these data to landscape evolution numerical models and ice sheet models. The geochemical tools she uses and develops often include cosmogenic nuclide systems, which provide powerful, novel methods to constrain rates of erosion and mineral weathering. Jane has also started to organize citizen science campaigns and apply basic science principles to problems of human health with an ultimate broader impact goal of cleaning up urban areas and environments impacted by agriculture. She received her B.Sc. with honors from the North Dakota State University where she was a McNair Scholar and in the NDSU scholars program. She holds a Masters degree from Boston University. Her Ph.D. is in Earth Science from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada where she was a Killam Scholar. She was a Synthesis Postdoctoral Fellow through the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics at the Saint Anthony Falls Lab at the University of Minnesota, and an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow and then subsequently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Helmholz GFZ Potsdam, Germany. Jane was previously an Associate Professor in the Geosciences Research Division and Thomas and Evelyn Page Chancellor's Endowed Faculty Fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego where she was the director of the Scripps Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory (SCI-Lab). She was also a tenure-track professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She will be a Stanford University Gabilan Faculty Fellow in 2021-2023. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and was the inaugural recipient of the Marguerite T. Williams award from the American Geophysical Union.
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Jeffrey Wong
Research and Finance Administrator, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Current Role at StanfordJeff is responsible for supporting the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department’s sponsored grants portfolio and faculty members' financial accounts. Jeff assists faculty members with budgeting and submitting sponsored research proposals, and managing the financial aspects of their sponsored awards. Additionally, Jeff serves as a department financial liaison with other university departments and schools, the Office of Sponsored Research and other academic institutions involved in collaborative research projects.
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David Zhen Yin
Senior Research Scientist - Physical
BioDavid Zhen Yin is the co-founder and program director of Stanford Mineral-X, a research innovation hub on creating resilient mineral supply chains for energy transitions. He is also the principal scientist at Stanford Center for Earth Resources Forecasting. Since 2024, David has been serving on the US National Academies Committee on optimizing the USGS Mineral Resources Program.
David develops data-scientific approaches for prediction, uncertainty quantification, and decision-making in critical earth resources exploration and development. He has broad experience with complex projects involving academia and industry and has broad knowledge of the fields. His research delivered several key technologies transferred as in-house technologies in Chevron, Equinor, and KoBold. In addition, his research developments have been implemented on various subjects, from Antarctica bed topography modeling, critical mineral explorations in Canada/China/US, and the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico projects.
Before joining Stanford, David was a Research Associate at the Edinburgh Time-Lapse Project in Scotland, leading a geophysical monitoring research project in collaboration with Equinor from 2016 to 2018. He was also a technology consultant at Equinor's Research Center in Bergen, Norway. Then, he was a Chevron CoRE Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford from 2018 to 2021. He was the Co-PI of the Stanford-KoBold collaboration from 2020 to 2022 which led to a $192.5 million Series B fundraising.
David received his Ph.D. in Geosciences from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, in 2016. His research interests include data science for geosciences, geological uncertainty quantification, and decision-making under uncertainty. He has authored one book and tens of articles in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. -
Andrea Zorzi
Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, admitted Autumn 2020
BioBorn in Venice, Italy, I earned my BSc in Aerospace Engineering at Università degli Studi di Padova in 2017. For my MSc degree, I moved to the Netherlands and graduated in Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft in 2019, focusing on space flight, planetary sciences and radiative transfer modeling. Afterwards, I spent a year at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen (Germany), conducting research on neural network applications for cometary gas expansion studies.
I've joined Stanford as a GS graduate student in Fall 2020 and I am part of the Planetary Modeling Group led by Prof. Schaefer.
My focus is on planetary impacts, how they affect the climate and chemical evolution of the atmospheres of planets in their early stages.
Personal website: https://azorzi.github.io/