Stanford University
Showing 801-820 of 1,389 Results
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Benjamin Maki
Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth System Science
BioBen joined Stanford's Earth System Science department as a postdoctoral scholar in February 2026. He is currently working on a series of projects related to the sustainable management of groundwater resources in California's Central Valley, where his work is focused within the context of managed aquifer recharge (MAR). MAR is a suite of methods used to redirect excess surface water into groundwater systems and has emerged as a key strategy to bank freshwater and restore groundwater levels throughout California. More specifically, his work focuses on better understanding the potential risks to groundwater quality posed by naturally occurring geogenic contaminants during recharge efforts, where changes to native geochemical conditions during recharge can result in the inadvertent mobilization of toxic naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic, uranium, chromium, and manganese. Current work funded through the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, and in partnership with the Madera Irrigation District among other community partners, aims to establish a simple, functional multi-user focused toolkit to aid in effectively and safely scaling groundwater recharge efforts throughout the state. Importantly, this work focuses on both understanding community level concerns during local groundwater recharge projects, while simultaneously establishing effective groundwater quality monitoring protocols and designing simple, scalable, and effective field-scale management solutions to protect long-term groundwater quality.
Prior to joining Stanford, Ben completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology, with a designated emphasis in Public Policy, at the University of California Riverside (UCR). His dissertation research focused on assessing the mechanistic controls driving inadvertent geogenic metals solubilization and transformation within MAR systems designed to infiltrate untreated stormwater runoff using recharge basins on agricultural lands in the Pajaro Valley, CA. These systems were uniquely designed to remediate nitrate contamination within infiltrating stormwater via the application of carbon based (e.g., woodchips, almond shells, etc.) horizontal permeable reactive barriers, installed within basin surface soils, where carbon solubilization effectively stimulated native microbial communities to reduce and remediate excess nitrate during infiltration. However, the conditions that promote denitrification (e.g., excess organic carbon and shifts to oxygen depleted conditions) can also result in the solubilization of geogenic metals from soils. Ben’s dissertation work employed novel methods to assess how these processes were influenced by excess organic carbon availability and redox cycling, representative of the cycling wet and dry condition in basin soils during recharge, to better understand the balance between water quality tradeoffs and consider system management strategies to maximize water quality benefits while reducing risks. Preceding his time at UCR, Ben received a BS in Environmental Science from Western Washington University, where he studied the influences of amorphous iron oxyhydroxides and biological amendments on arsenic and iron bioavailability, fate, and transport in soils.
When not thinking about groundwater replenishment, Ben enjoys time with friends, family, and his partner Al and dog Rupert. He spends the bulk of his free time surfing on the California coast, exploring the Bay Area by bicycle and campervan, traveling to as many new places as possible, and enjoying live music, and good food and company along the way! -
Lisa Mandle
Senior Research Scientist-Basic Life, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
BioLisa Mandle (she/her) is Director of Science-Software Integration and a Lead Scientist with the Natural Capital Project. She works to make ecosystem service science accessible and actionable through NatCap’s data and software, overseeing our software team. Her research sheds light on how land management and infrastructure development affect ecosystem services, social equity, and human health. Lisa works with governments, multi-lateral development banks, and non-governmental organizations to incorporate this understanding into policy and finance, particularly in Latin America and Asia. She is also lead editor of the book Green Growth That Works, which provides a practical guide to policy and finance mechanisms from around the world for securing benefits from nature.
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Ali Mani
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
BioAli Mani is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He is a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford in 2009. Prior to joining the faculty in 2011, he was an engineering research associate at Stanford and a senior postdoctoral associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering. His research group builds and utilizes large-scale high-fidelity numerical simulations, as well as methods of applied mathematics, to develop quantitative understanding of transport processes that involve strong coupling with fluid flow and commonly involve turbulence or chaos. His teaching includes the undergraduate engineering math classes and graduate courses on fluid mechanics and numerical analysis.
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Wendy Mao
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Photon Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUnderstanding the formation and evolution of planetary interiors; experimental mineral physics; materials in extreme environments.
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Felicia Marcus
Social Science Research Scholar, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
BioFelicia Marcus has a long career as an organizational manager, a federal, state, and local government policymaker, and as a non-profit leader. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Felicia was most recently Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board after having served as Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX and as head of the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works in addition to senior leadership in national non-governmental organizations (Trust for Public Land, Natural Resources Defense Council). She has experience as a private and public interest sector attorney and has worked on issues across the West spanning water supply, water rights, and water quality in addition to experience in other sectors like energy, toxics, and land use. She is also a member of the Water Policy Group, an international network of former and current high-level water official policymakers and is also one of the three US members of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation in addition to serving on many boards and advisory committees. She also currently serves as a Board Member for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, which supports the reliability of the bulk electricity transmission grid for the western United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. Felicia graduated cum laude from Harvard College (East Asian Studies), has her JD from New York University School of Law, and attended Hong Kong University (Rotary Fellowship).
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Valerie Breanne Rosen
Ph.D. Student in Geological and Environmental Sciences, admitted Winter 2015
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNickel Isotopes as a Biosignature for Methanogenic Archaea
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E'jaaz A. Mason
Lecturer, Earth Systems Program
BioE’jaaz A. Mason is a Lecturer in Earth Systems at Stanford University teaching courses about community-engaged multimedia environmental storytelling. He is also the Co-Founder of Lede New Orleans, a nonprofit fostering community engagement and young adult media production training. A filmmaker, educator, and community engagement specialist, Mason was a member of the 2023-2024 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford. From 2015 to 2020, he taught film and digital media in New Orleans public high schools, founding an award-winning film program at New Orleans Charter Math & Science High School. Mason has received numerous awards for his work in youth education. He was a cinematographer for the 2022 HBO/Time Studios documentary Katrina Babies and is the Story and Impact Producer for the 2025 documentary The River. He is also directing two documentary films: Black Suit: Sewing [Her]story, which highlights the importance of Black women in New Orleans’ Black Masking Indian culture and an untitled film about environmental and societal challenges facing residents of the Bayview Hunter's Point neighborhood in San Francisco.
