School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
Stanford Earth graduates: Make your own future
Dean Stephan Graham expressed his congratulations online to the 2021 graduates of the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth), as well as his confidence in their ability to solve problems.
Finding the ‘sweet spots’ for replenishing depleted aquifers
Rapidly worsening drought and a mandate to bring aquifer withdrawals and deposits into balance by 2040 have ignited interest in replenishing California groundwater through managed aquifer recharge. Stanford scientists demonstrate a new way to assess sites for this type of project using soil measurements and a geophysical system towed by an all-terrain vehicle.
As the most-used building material on the planet and one of the world’s largest industrial contributors to global warming, concrete has long been a target for reinvention. Stanford scientists say replacing one concrete’s main ingredients with volcanic rock could slash carbon emissions from manufacture of the material by nearly two-thirds.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
Geophysics professor William Ellsworth earns top honor in seismology
The Seismological Society of America (SSA) will present its highest honor, the 2021 Harry Fielding Reid Medal, to William Ellsworth, professor of geophysics. Ellsworth is recognized for his critical contributions to earthquake location, earthquake nucleation, earthquake recurrence and induced seismicity research.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
Why discuss sexuality and gender in the geosciences?
A 2013 survey suggested that more than 40% of STEM workers who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and beyond (LGBTQIA+) were not out to their colleagues, and most respondents couldn’t name a single LGBTQIA+ faculty member at the universities where they got their degrees. Six Stanford Earth community members talk about the role sexual and gender identity plays in the workplace.
Coastal flooding increases Bay Area traffic delays and accidents
Stanford researchers found that disruptions from sea level rise and coastal flooding events have significant indirect impacts on urban traffic networks and road safety.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
What does it mean to be Asian American in the geosciences?
Stanford Earth transitioned the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) into its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative in 2020. As part an effort to celebrate and discuss identity, four Stanford Earth members share how their Asian American Pacific Islander identities have informed and impacted their careers.
Professor emeritus Dave Pollard receives highest award of Geological Society
Dave Pollard, the Barney and Estelle Morris Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, has been awarded the 2021 Wollaston Medal, the highest honor of the Geological Society of London. The award is given to geoscientists who have had a significant influence by means of a substantial body of excellent research in either or both 'pure' and 'applied' aspects of the science.
Researchers have detected groundwater beneath a glacier in Greenland for the first time using airborne radar data. If applicable to other glaciers and ice sheets, the technique could allow for more accurate predictions of future sea-level rise.
A fossil study from Stanford University finds the diversity of life in the world’s oceans declined time and again over the past 145 million years during periods of extreme warming. Temperatures that make it hard for cold-blooded sea creatures to breathe have likely been among the biggest drivers for shifts in the distribution of marine biodiversity.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
Adam Brandt to lead Stanford’s Natural Gas Initiative research program
NGI, founded by Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and its Precourt Institute for Energy, is an industrial affiliate program supported by its members and individual donors.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
Andres Marquez receives NSF fellowship
The geological sciences PhD student has been awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from NSF to explore marine invertebrate body size changes in the fossil record.
School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences —
New project to open years of atmospheric data, improve climate models
Led by atmospheric scientist Aditi Sheshadri, the research aims to leverage Loon balloon data, high-resolution simulations, and data-informed methods to understand the impact of gravity waves on climate and improve their representation in climate models.
The assistant professor of Earth system science will explore how communities are impacted by exposure to extreme climate events over time, with a focus on low-income populations that have historically been disadvantaged by climate hazards.
One of Earth’s biggest carbon sinks has been overestimated
The results contradict a widely accepted assumption in climate models that biomass and soil carbon will increase in tandem in the coming decades and highlight the importance of grasslands in helping to draw down carbon.
Twenty years ago, a Stanford-led analysis sparked controversy by highlighting fish farming’s damage to ocean fisheries. Now a follow-up study takes stock of the industry’s progress and points to opportunities for sustainable growth.
Mikaela Salvador receives AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award
Salvador investigated the diversity and symbiotic relationships of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms – which are involved with critical biogeochemical cycles – within marine sediments and deep-sea methane seeps.
Q&A: What does it mean to be a woman in the geosciences?
Stanford Earth recently transitioned the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) into its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative. As part of an effort to celebrate and discuss identity, six Stanford Earth community members talk about how their identities as women have informed and impacted their careers.
A decade after a powerful earthquake and tsunami set off the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown in Japan, Stanford experts discuss revelations about radiation from the disaster, advances in earthquake science related to the event and how its devastating impact has influenced strategies for tsunami defense and local warning systems.
School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences —
Matt Lees receives AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award
Lees has paved the way for understanding how the complex relationship between groundwater levels, subsurface structure and subsurface properties leads to the sinking of the Earth’s surface.
Global carbon emissions need to shrink 10 times faster
Among the dozens of countries that reduced their emissions 2016-2019, carbon dioxide emissions fell at roughly one-tenth the rate needed worldwide to hold global warming well below 2°C relative to preindustrial levels, a new study finds.
How much do humans influence Earth’s water levels?
A new study provides the first global accounting of fluctuations in lake and reservoir water levels. The research shows 57 percent of the variability occurs in dammed reservoirs and other bodies of water managed by people, highlighting the dominant role humans now play in Earth’s water cycle.
Sea Trek: Stanford researcher’s childhood dreams of space bend toward the ocean deep
A keen interest in the possibility of alien life ultimately led geomicrobiologist Anne Dekas to study some of the least-examined microbes on Earth – those dwelling in the deep sea.
Q&A: What does it mean to be Black in the geosciences?
Stanford Earth recently transitioned the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) into its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative. As part of an effort to celebrate and discuss identity, six Stanford Earth community members talk about how their Blackness has informed and impacted their careers.
Research based on the daily movements of people living in a contemporary hunter-gatherer society provides new evidence for links between the gendered division of labor in human societies over the past 2.5 million years and differences in the way men and women think about space.
Simona Onori wins C3E research award for work on sustainable transportation
The annual award from the U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Initiative, or C3E, recognizes mid-career women who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and accomplishments in clean energy.
Noah Diffenbaugh receives AGU’s William Kaula Award
The professor of Earth system science was honored for extraordinary contributions to the growth, quality, and success of the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters.
School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences —
The science behind extinction
Stanford experts decipher the mysteries and mechanisms of extinction and survival in Earth’s deep past and paint an increasingly detailed picture of life now at the brink.
