Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Showing 1,321-1,340 of 1,450 Results
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Edgar Virgüez
Research Engineer
BioEdgar Virgüez is an energy systems engineer and geographer who investigates net-zero emissions energy systems. Currently, he works as a Research Engineer at the Energy Science & Engineering Department at Stanford University. His research findings (>20 papers) have been published in top-tier journals like Energy & Environmental Science and Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T), obtaining more than 650 citations. He has participated in nineteen research/consultancy projects with a total budget of USD >25 million, working with organizations such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. As part of these projects, he has directed life-cycle assessments and cost-benefit analyses of integrating new fuels into energy markets, designed decarbonization strategies for local governments, and assessed the benefits of transitioning into net-zero emissions energy systems.
Dr. Virgüez has been recognized as a global expert in energy systems, appointed: a) to the Expert Advisory Panel of the Earthshot Prize (a prestigious international award founded by Prince William of Gales, awarding more than 6.25 million USD annually), b) as an Expert Reviewer of the Schmidt Sciences Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI) (awarding multiple grants for up to 10 million USD), c) as one of the seven inaugural Executive Editorial Board Members of the Environmental Research: Energy journal, and d) as an Editorial Board Member of the Scientific Reports journal (Nature Portfolio). Similarly, he serves as a peer reviewer for 14 journals, including ES&T, Nature Communications, and Nature Sustainability, among others.
He has developed as a next-generation pedagogue, teaching 16 courses, serving more than 560 students, and achieving high ratings from his students. For his contributions and exemplary promise as a higher education leader, he has received several professional honors (total amount of professional awards USD 33,365). In 2020, he was selected as one of the seven recipients of the K. Patricia Cross Future Leader Award by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), identified as a rising star from a 200-nominee pool from 118 institutions in the United States. In 2022, his research contributions were recognized with the Best Paper Award from the Energy and Environment Group of the American Association of Geographers and the U.S. Carbon Program Leadership Award from the Carbon Cycle Science Program & North American Carbon Program.
At Duke University, where he conducted graduate studies, he received several of the most prestigious awards for graduate students, including the 2021 Graduate School Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (<0.1% of doctoral students) and the 2021 Forever Duke Student Leadership Award (<0.5% of graduating students). In 2022, he was selected as a board member (Young Trustee) of Duke University’s highest governing body, the Board of Trustees. Dr. Virgüez was appointed from 2022 to 2025.
His solid knowledge base arises from his academic formation. At Duke University, he completed a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Policy with a Certificate in College Teaching (’22) and an M.A. in Environment (Energy and Environment) with a Geospatial Analysis Certificate (’18). At Universidad de los Andes, he obtained an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering (’10), a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (’09), and a B.Sc. Environmental Engineering (’09). Additionally, he has strengthened his transferable skills by participating in professional certificate programs in Australia, the United States, and Colombia. Acknowledging his academic excellence and research contributions, he has been awarded scholarships and fellowships for more than USD 795,000 from competitive national and international programs sponsored by institutions such as the Sloan Foundation and Procter & Gamble (P&G). -
Peter Vitousek
Clifford G. Morrison Professor of Population and Resource Studies and Professor of Earth System Science, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsVitousek's research interests include: evaluating the global cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, and how they are altered by human activity; understanding how the interaction of land and culture contributed to the sustainability of Hawaiian (and other Pacific) agriculture and society before European contact; and working to make fertilizer applications more efficient and less environmentally damaging (especially in rapidly growing economies)
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Madalina Vlasceanu
Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Sciences
BioMadalina Vlasceanu is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences in the Environmental Social Sciences Department of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and the director of the Stanford Climate Cognition Lab. Professor Vlasceanu is also a committee member of the Psychology Coalition at the United Nations, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology United Nations, and the International Panel on the Information Environment. She obtained a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Princeton University in 2021 and a BA in Psychology and Economics from the University of Rochester in 2016. Prior to Stanford, she was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University. Her research focuses on the cognitive and social processes that give rise to emergent phenomena such as collective beliefs, collective decision-making, and collective action, with direct applications to climate policy. Guided by a theoretical framework of investigation, her research employs a large array of methods including behavioral laboratory experiments, social network analysis, field studies, randomized controlled trials, megastudies, and international many-lab collaborations, with the goal of understanding the processes underlying climate awareness and action at the individual, collective, and system level. Professor Vlasceanu's research is theoretically grounded and focused on applications for practice, incorporates an interdisciplinary perspective, and directly informs policies and practices relevant to climate mitigation and adaptation.
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Katie Vogelheim
Education Advisor, Human and Planetary Health
Staff, Human and Planetary HealthBioKatie Vogelheim is an Education Advisor to the Human and Planetary Health (HPH) Center at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, where she has designed a series of project-based courses—HPH Action Labs—focused on tackling complex climate and sustainability challenges. She also serves as an Innovation Coach for the Stanford Ecopreneurship program, mentoring entrepreneurial student teams in the early stages of product and market development. Through these roles, Katie actively supports student education and mentorship in developing innovative solutions to address climate change.
With a 30-year business career spanning multiple industries, Katie has been directing funding since 2010 toward global nature-based solutions and early-stage companies committed to sustainability. From 2020 to 2022, she was a Distinguished Career Institute Fellow at Stanford, concentrating on sustainability, climate, and energy.
Katie collaborates across campus to develop curriculum and connect resources that advance human and planetary health initiatives. She also holds additional affiliations, serving on the Board of Dean’s Advisers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, the Harvard Data Science Initiative, and Conservation International’s Science and Leadership Councils. -
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's passionate about exploring the interconnectedness of Earth’s systems through his research and is equally passionate about looking beyond academia to cultivate enduring relationships with the lands and peoples he works with.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 dynamics in Fennoscandian and Alaskan forests, and examining the biogeochemical diversity of ‘black smoker’ plume particles at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. His dissertation focuses on applying an array of isotopic tracers and synchrotron-based X-ray approaches to explore how landscapes record and respond to a diverse set of disturbances, from biological invasions in Earth’s northern biomes to extreme storm events in Puerto Rico to cultural burning and wildfires in California.
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Diane Wade
Research 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. -
Virginia Walbot
Professor of Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur current focus is on maize anther development to understand how cell fate is specified. We discovered that hypoxia triggers specification of the archesporial (pre-meiotic) cells, and that these cells secrete a small protein MAC1 that patterns the adjacent soma to differentiate as endothecial and secondary parietal cell types. We also discovered a novel class of small RNA: 21-nt and 24-nt phasiRNAs that are exceptionally abundant in anthers and exhibit strict spatiotemporal dynamics.
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Luwen Wan
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioLuwen is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, working with Dr. Kate Maher, Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Earth System Science. Her postdoctoral research focuses on developing tools for tracking the recovery and activity of the North American beaver from a computer version and evaluating beaver as a tool for fostering sustainable waterways. She received her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science from Michigan State University, where she worked on nutrient transport modeling across the Great Lakes Basin and agricultural tile drainage mapping across the US Midwest region.
