Stanford University
Showing 1-10 of 13 Results
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Sandra Schachat
Research Assistant, Earth & Planetary Sciences
BioI am interested in the evolution of insect morphology and ecology in deep time. I occasionally also study ticks, amphibians, and plants.
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Laura Schaefer
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
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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Allegra Hosford Scheirer
Physical Science Research Scientist, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
Allegra Hosford Scheirer is a research geophysicist at Stanford University, specializing in basin and petroleum system modeling. Her work is centered on the strong belief in the integration of geological, geochemical, and geophysical data in a unified working environment.
Teaching
She co-teaches courses and co-advises several graduate students with a focus on basin and petroleum system modeling and investigative methods for exploring conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons.
Professional Activities
Prior to joining Stanford, Allegra was a member of the Geophysical Unit of Menlo Park and the Energy Resources Program at the U.S. Geological Survey, where she constructed three-dimensional geologic models for use in the resource assessment process. Allegra has led and participated in numerous field programs at sea and in the United States. She is the editor of U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1713 and a past Associate Editor of Journal of Geophysical Research. -
Eva L. Scheller
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPlanetary surface chemistry of terrestrial and icy worlds
What are the chemical inventories across the surfaces of solid planetary bodies? How were primary surface chemistry trends created through processes governing solid body planetary evolution? To what extent is in-situ characterized planetary surface chemistry (ices, volatiles, salts, aqueous minerals, organic compounds) tracers of ancient planet-shaping reactions, environmental and physical conditions, and geological processes?
Long-term planetary volatile evolution
How do geochemical reactions between terrestrial body atmospheres, surfaces, crust, and interiors affect the evolution of Mars and Venus’ atmospheres and habitable surface environments over geological time? What are the major inventories of volatiles on terrestrial and icy worlds, how do they change, and how are they lost/retained over time?
Numerical, probabilistic, and autonomous methods for planetary chemistry
How can we infer material compositions and chemical processes while rigorously quantifying uncertainty and ambiguity in sparse planetary datasets? How can laboratory measurements, physical models, and spacecraft observations be combined into coherent chemical interpretations? How can we develop trustworthy autonomous methods that rigorously maximizes chemical information yield from spacecraft missions and minimizes human bias?
Spaceflight instrumentation for planetary chemical analysis
How can planetary missions make reliable and quantified chemical discoveries with limited measurements and incomplete prior knowledge? How can instruments detect trace compounds and distinguish genuine chemical signatures from contamination, instrumental artifacts, and degenerate signals? How can we maximize chemical information within engineering and mission constraints? Can scientific output of planetary missions be optimized reliably through intelligent instrumentation and autonomous decision-making? -
Kai Schoettler
Research Assistant, Earth & Planetary Sciences
BioGraduate from the University of Oregon in 2024 with a focus in paleontology, currently working in the Jonathan Payne paleobiology lab. Pursuing a career in research and conservation paleoecology to apply lessons from the past to protect the future. Number 1 fan of extinct deer-like organisms from 15 million years ago.
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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
