Profiles
Site news
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Recent graduate Emily Paris, PhD ’26, studies Earth’s most extreme deep-sea environments to learn about the habitability of ancient Mars and inform carbon storage efforts.
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Civil and environmental engineer Khalid Osman seeks to change the world through infrastructure and create a future where all communities have access to safe and reliable services.
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Recent graduate Ethan Lopes, PhD ‘26, spent his time at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability mentoring K-12 students and collaborating across departments to connect science with society.
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"As an engineer, my job is to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical – taking equations of math and science and applying them to real-world solutions."
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Recent graduate Edward Apraku, PhD ’26, combined environmental engineering with a commitment to community impact during his time at Stanford.
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Environmental chemist Nina Zhao seeks to understand the chemicals in our lives, and why people respond so differently to the same drug, pesticide, or pollutant.
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With support from the TomKat Center, Emily Tench is building an AI partner for infrastructure developers to de-risk their projects from the earliest stages.
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AI is contributing to a rising demand for electricity – a pressing sustainability challenge. Professor Will Chueh says it can also be part of the solution, by accelerating advances and deployment in energy technologies.
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PhD student Fridah Nyakundi studies ways to improve food policy and production, focusing on how fish farmers in western Kenya perceive and manage risk.
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Environmental microbiologist Yaochun Yu studies how microbes break down pesticides, plastic additives, and other chemicals in the environment. His goal is to enable new ways to clean up pollution and design safer chemicals for the future.
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PhD student Sierra Castañeda’s research on cover crops could shape policies that protect drinking water and reward farmers for implementing practices that keep pollution out of water supplies.
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From collecting soil samples to directing ballet performances, Anneli Chow blends science, creativity, and community.
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Postdoctoral researcher Tao Sun combines machine learning with decades of utility data to predict future energy disruptions.
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Khalid Osman, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, assesses public perceptions of water infrastructure, water conservation efforts, and the management of existing infrastructure systems.
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Tyrone Jue, director of the San Francisco Environment Department, leads the city’s climate efforts. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Air District, where he has helped advance nation-leading regional clean air and pollution-reduction policies.
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Stephanie Fischer, a PhD student in Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and a PhD minor in the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, researches how identity and culture can not only help people get involved in climate action but also buffer against harm.
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A PhD student in environmental social sciences at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Quito Tsui researches how communities rebuild after conflict, how digital evidence is used in international law, and how the destruction of the environment is documented and witnessed.
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Ten years after launching the Environmental Communication Master of Arts in Earth systems, program director Thomas Hayden continues to mentor students to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and public understanding.
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With support from the TomKat Center and the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, scholars are working to scale a fast-acting fertilizer that captures carbon.
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Yashee Mathur, PhD '26, is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to look underground for a carbon-free energy source that could be more abundant than natural gas.
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From July to September 2025, Energy Science & Engineering PhD student Pietro Bosoni participated in a hybrid internship at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), a workforce development program run by the U.S. Department of Energy.
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The 2025-27 Dean’s Sustainability Leaders Postdoctoral Fellows are pursuing research on snakes, climate perceptions, and plant adaptations, bringing interdisciplinary scholarship and leadership to the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
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Diego Gutierrez, Earth Systems '25, is betting on a humble legume to help rebuild the island's fragile food system – starting in backyard farms.
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Stanford students are getting a head start on careers with education and leadership programs offered by the Woods Institute for the Environment. We talk with Anushka Vijay, a senior who built both academic knowledge and practical experience through the Environmental and Policy Internship (EPIC) program.
