About the School
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability is the first new school Stanford has formed in more than 70 years, representing the historic nature of this effort. The school arose through ideas from faculty, students, staff, and alumni who sought ways of amplifying Stanford's impact on urgent climate and sustainability challenges both on our campus and in our teaching and research.
See the timeline for forming the school
Organized for Impact
The school is organized to drive impact with a novel three-part structure that includes academic departments, institutes and initiatives, and Sustainability Accelerator.
Creating knowledge
Scholarship within the school's academic departments creates new knowledge about the natural world and its linkages with human society, and the threats we all face.
Bridging disciplines
The school's institutes focus interdisciplinary expertise around critical challenges in energy, the environment and sustainable societies, and foster emerging areas of scholarship.
Driving impact
The Sustainability Accelerator will draw expertise from across the university and outside partners to co-create and scale policy and technology solutions for urgent climate and sustainability challenges.
Expanded footprint
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability brings together existing Stanford organizations:
- School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth)
- Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
- Precourt Institute for Energy.
- The department of civil and environmental engineering joins the new school as a joint department with the School of Engineering
- The facilities of Hopkins Marine Station
Joining the existing units in the school are faculty from across the university and an anticipated 60 new faculty hires over the next ten years. The school will also include a new Institute for Sustainable Societies, which builds on the model demonstrated by Woods and Precourt, while adding critical new attention to issues of social justice, institutional and economic infrastructure, and the politics of transitioning to more sustainable ways of life. And it includes a new Sustainability Accelerator that expands the reach of the school to people globally.
What excites me is...
Kate Maher, professor of Earth system science, says Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability will bring together a unique array of disciplines that aren't normally housed together in one academic unit, which will enable a different way of interacting with communities and stakeholders.