Woods Wrapped 2025
Close out the year with a look back at the strides our community has made toward better understanding and supporting life on Earth.
Research for Resilience
The Woods Institute community of researchers is pursuing the knowledge and solutions needed to prevent, anticipate or adapt to increasingly extreme challenges facing people and the planet. This past year our readers were most engaged with stories that spanned climate impacts on crop yields, links between tree cover and disease, nature-based pathways to climate resilience, and more.
Heat and drought are quietly hurting crop yields
A study revealed how climate change has altered growing conditions for the world’s five major crops over the past half century, and is reshaping agriculture. The impacts corroborate climate models used to predict impacts, with a couple of important exceptions, according to the researchers.
Trees vs. Disease: Tree cover reduces mosquito-borne health risk
Protecting trees might not seem like a public health strategy, but new research suggests it could be. The paper showed that in Costa Rica, even modest patches of tree cover can reduce the presence of invasive mosquito species known to transmit diseases like dengue fever.
How reintroducing beavers can build watershed resilience
Often portrayed as lumber-hungry nuisances, North American beavers build dams that help freshwater ecosystems thrive. A new study used high-resolution aerial imagery to map beaver dams and ponds, helping prioritize areas for restoring wetlands and reintroducing beavers.
Impactful Dialogue
Uncommon Dialogues are the Woods Institute's signature convening program. Dialogues tackle complex environmental challenges by bringing cross sector experts and stakeholders together for in-depth, solution-focused discussions. These sessions are structured to bridge gaps between researchers and decision-makers in government, business, NGOs, community groups, and other sectors. See highlights from our 2025 dialogues below.
Envisioning new roles for farmland set to replenish overdrawn CA aquifers
Water in the West convened academic, government, and NGO leaders from California and other western states to envision uses for land with the potential to restore overdrawn aquifers. The Uncommon Dialogue explored successes and challenges of a California initiative that seeks to help transition agricultural land that will go out of production due to the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
First-of-its-kind marine protected area balances conservation with cultural heritage
Mauritius established a unique new marine protected area following a Stanford conference and Uncommon Dialogue, encouraging open and candid debate on the processes of decolonization within environmental policymaking at the international level.
Discussions lead to new program on Electrification for Health
An Uncommon Dialogue on indoor air pollution paved the way for a new program on electrification and health. Led by Professor Rob Jackson and new director Brady Seals, the dialogue assembled scholars and practitioners to explore how indoor air quality can be improved at scale.
Finding agreement on how to monitor forests' climate benefits
It's well known that forests absorb and store excess carbon. But those who seek to harness the climate benefits of forests are less certain about how best to consistently measure, monitor and verify (MRV) forest carbon storage across different regions. The Natural Climate Solutions Initiative convened academics, forest managers, and policy experts to identify barriers to creating a universal standard for verifying forest carbon. A white paper with their findings is forthcoming.
Actionable Insights
Webinars and other policy briefings are among the events Woods organizes to share timely research and cross-sector analysis with audiences ranging from decision makers to policy practitioners and the general public. In a year that began with the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history, Woods events kept the focus on causes, consequences and potential solutions for the growing wildfire crisis.
Tracing connections between wildfire and human health
The Center on Human and Planetary Health organized a rapid response webinar after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. Panelists fielded questions at the intersection of climate and environmental science, pediatrics, and mental health, sharing strategies for protecting communities.
Equipping legislators with the latest research
Wood’s policy and engagement team spearheaded a wildfire working group – the Ignis Initiative – and shared new research on beneficial fire with state officials. They continued wildfire briefings for legislative staff, offering three private briefings followed by an interactive workshop. The goal: to distill key findings into legislative strategies for 2025–2026.
Advancing wildfire policy in California and beyond
The Climate and Energy Policy Program issued several white papers with accompanying webinars to help California and federal policymakers craft policies to address catastrophic wildfires. Scholars covered topics like prescribed burns, utility-ignited wildfires, and interactions between wildfire risk mitigation and electricity affordability.
Conversation & Community
In 2025, the Woods Institute hosted a range of scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders for conversations and lectures that spanned climate and public health, science communication, accounting for nature's economic value, and more.
Solomon Hsiang on the link between climate and health
As part of a speaker series sponsored by the Center for Human and Planetary Health, Solomon Hsiang, professor of environmental social sciences, discussed the central themes of his research on climate and public health – and its real-world policy implications.
A conversation with climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe
Leading science communicator Katharine Hayhoe joined Stanford Woods Institute Director Chris Field for a conversation on human and planetary health, her career as an atmospheric scientist, and why we should remain optimistic in the face of a changing climate.
Sir Partha Gasgupta on measuring 'inclusive wealth'
Ignoring nature’s economic value limits our ability to accurately measure human welfare – and the true cost of industrial development. The Woods Institute hosted economist Sir Partha Dasgupta to discuss his work in measuring 'inclusive wealth' and natural capital.
Emerging Leaders
Leadership, professional development, and grant programs are central to how Woods promotes interdisciplinary action. In years when shifts in federal priorities limited opportunities in environmental research, these programs provided critical support and advanced essential science and policy engagement. See how Woods programs helped scholars sustain momentum below.
Connecting scholarship to policymaking
In 2025, a year marked by significant transition in the federal government, the Woods Institute gave 15 fellows from diverse fields of study hands-on exposure to the policy process through the Rising Environmental Leaders Program.
Equipping faculty for collaborative leadership
Relaunched after a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Leading Interdisciplinary Collaboration program prepares early and mid-career faculty to break through disciplinary silos and collaborate on high-impact research.
Growing opportunities for undergraduates
Woods internship applications more than doubled this year, as did the number of placements for 22 students hosted by 17 organizations located in California, Washington, D.C., and internationally. Other undergraduate offerings included stipends for 12 undergraduate MUIR researchers and a Sacramento bootcamp offered by the Forum for Undergraduate Environmental Leadership.
Woods at COP30
Stanford’s delegation in Belém included six graduate students and postdoctoral scholars supported by a joint Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Woods Institute program. Woods organized four workshops to prepare delegates for the annual U.N. conference where they connected with representatives from Stanford's Center for Ocean Solutions and Natural Capital Alliance. The latter, Mengye Zhu, facilitated a meeting with China’s Special Envoy on Climate.
Academic Accolades
This year brought prestigious honors for several Woods fellows, including Gretchen Daily, Rob Jackson and Will Tarpeh.
Gretchen Daily among 2025 AAAS fellows
Five Stanford faculty are among 471 new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, including Gretchen Daily, professor of biology and co-founder of the Natural Capital Project.
Rob Jackson awarded the Blue Planet Prize
Earth System Science Professor Rob Jackson was awarded the Blue Planet Prize, recognizing individuals or organizations whose work has significantly advanced solutions to pressing environmental problems.
William Tarpeh honored with 2025 MacArthur Fellowship
William Tarpeh, assistant professor of chemical engineering, was honored for his work turning wastewater into a source of valuable resources, such as clean water, fertilizer, and battery precursors.
Solutions in process
Our In Focus story series highlights the people, processes, innovations, and discoveries at the heart of Woods-funded research projects.
From pixels to protection
A novel machine learning pipeline developed by a Stanford student team funded is accelerating analysis of aerial drone imagery – and monitoring of an endangered shark species.
Blue food project taps ocean's potential to feed the world
A collaboration between Stanford researchers and Indonesian organizations aims to capitalize on aquatic food sources to improve nutrition, food security, and livelihoods.
Upcycling hospital textiles and empowering communities
Stanford researchers and their colleagues at Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil are reducing waste and creating economic opportunity for vulnerable communities.
An uncommon collaboration on 'blue humanities'
A literary scholar and ocean scientist team up for research and teaching thanks to a common love of the ocean.
Explore More
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A mix of favorites, high-impact stories, and some of our most-read research coverage from the past year.
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The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability 2025 Progress Report.
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The Center for Human and Planetary Health 2025 Annual Report.
