2026 Discovery Grants offer new opportunities for early-stage research
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability has awarded Discovery Grants totaling more than $1.5 million to 11 projects. The Discovery Grant program supports creative research aimed at advancing understanding of our planet, life and society, and engineered systems.
This year’s Discovery Grant projects explore the global carbon cycle, coastal ecology, evolutionary biology, volcanology, water quality, and more, showcasing a range of early-stage research at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
Researchers are pursuing these questions and more through 11 projects that have been awarded $1.55 million in Stanford Doerr Discovery Grants. Launched in 2023, the Discovery Grants program supports cutting-edge, curiosity-driven fundamental research, with strong emphasis on creative approaches to exploring new areas.
The program aims to help school faculty create proofs of concept that can be leveraged to secure funding from outside Stanford. The 2026 projects include teams exploring climate risk uncertainty, explosive volcanic eruptions, evolution of flowers, genomes of fungal species, and toxicity of batteries. One project, led by Ettore Biondi, assistant professor of geophysics, aims to adapt a shape-sensing technology from medicine and industry to monitor changes in Earth’s systems, including glaciers, faults, and volcanic regions.
“Projects funded by this year’s Doerr Discovery Grants continue the aim of pursuing fundamental knowledge of planetary, engineered, and human systems,” said Professor Scott Fendorf, senior associate dean for research at the Doerr School of Sustainability.
The 2026 project titles and principal investigators (PIs) are listed below. For full project descriptions, visit the 2026 Discovery Grants page.
Multiscale evolution of rare earth magnet interfaces during electroleaching
PI: Carlos D. Diaz-Marin, Assistant Professor of Energy Science & Engineering; Co-PI: Xiaolin Zheng, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Energy Science & Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Wildfire-induced alterations to organic matter entering drinking water facilities and resulting increased exposure to toxic aromatic byproducts
PI: William Mitch, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Co-PIs: Adam Pellegrini, Assistant Professor of Earth System Science; Nina Zhao, Acting Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Anatomy of a battery fire: Decoding the toxic nanoparticle plume
PI: Xiaolin Zheng, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Energy Science & Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Fiber-optical shape sensing for geophysical applications
PI: Ettore Biondi, Assistant Professor of Geophysics; Co-PI: Olav Solgaard, Audrey S. Hancock Professor in the School of Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering
Magma transport leading to explosive volcanic eruptions
PI: Paul Segall, Professor of Geophysics; Co-PI: Adrian Lew, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Unearthing new ecological theories using whole community genomics
PI: Kabir Peay, Professor of Biology and of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Dimensions of climate risk uncertainty
PI: Jack Baker, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Missing the target: The political effects of international environmental goal failure
PI: Hélène Benveniste, Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Sciences
Identifying mechanisms and impact of biological dark carbon fixation in the ocean
PI: Anne Dekas, Associate Professor of Earth System Science; Co-PI: Kevin Arrigo, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Comparing apples to pinecones: A new approach to understanding the evolution of flowers
PI: Andrew Leslie, Assistant Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences
In search of canonical rocky shores through coastal imaging
PI: Christine Baker, Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
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