Stanford University
Showing 761-770 of 2,662 Results
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Yahui He
Postdoctoral Scholar, Archaeology
BioYahui He is an environmental archaeologist specializing in archaeobotany in East Asia. Her research investigates the dynamics of human-plant relationships in multi-scalar socio-political contexts, focusing on the materiality of plants in processes of sedentism and urbanism.
Her PhD and ongoing research work in the Northern Zone, China (northern Loess Plateau and southern Mongolian Plateau) utilizes multi-proxy methods, including starch, phytolith, fungi, and use-wear analyses, to explore plant-based food and drink practices across different social contexts, such as household, community, and mortuary settings. Yahui’s collaborative research extends to studies on plant exploitation and dispersal, as well as related technologies such as plant food fermentation and bast fiber production across mainland China and beyond, including Erlitou in Henan and others in Taiwan and Honduras.
Prior to joining the Stanford Archaeology Center as a postdoctoral scholar, Yahui obtained her PhD at Stanford in 2024 and was a Li Foundation Fellow at the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK in 2024 (Jan.-June). -
Laura Heath-Stout
Postdoctoral Scholar, Archaeology
BioI am an intersectional feminist archaeologist and activist. I use qualitative and quantitative social science methods to study the demographics and knowledge production practices of archaeologists. I am currently starting a new community-driven project about the history of institutions for people with disabilities in Massachusetts.
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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.
