The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment celebrates 20 years of transformative impact

In 2004, Facebook went live, NASA landed rovers on Mars, and a new era in solutions-oriented academic collaboration was emerging.

A group of visionary Stanford faculty members – including Walter Falcon, Don Kennedy, Rosamond Naylor, Peter Vitousek, Pamela Matson, Jeffrey Koseff, and Barton “Buzz” Thompson – realized the environmental challenges facing the world were too big and complex to tackle through traditional, siloed academic approaches. They understood that the path to meaningful answers lay in bridging disciplines, combining expertise, and fostering collaboration across the university’s schools. Twenty years later, their legacy – the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment – is more vital than ever.

“There were bits and pieces all over Stanford,” Matson recalled of innovative environmental research underway at the university’s seven schools. “But wouldn’t it be great if there could be something more, if the whole could be greater than the sum of the parts?”

This insight, paired with the leadership of Stanford’s then-President John Hennessy and Provost John Etchemendy, and the backing of generous donors, such as Ward Woods, Bill Landreth, and Joan and Mel Lane, led to the creation of the Woods Institute.

From the start, Woods led the way in bringing together researchers from fields as disparate as engineering and epidemiology through programs such as the Environmental Venture Projects (EVP), which seeds high-risk, high-reward work. Among them were projects that helped lead to more effective coastal climate adaptation, a global initiative that changed how governments and organizations account for the value of nature, and a new paradigm for tracking and treating viruses in wastewater.

As founding co-directors, Koseff, an expert in fluid mechanics, and Thompson, an environmental law expert, were living examples of the institute’s ethos.

“It was incredibly important to signal to the community that this was not just a technology enterprise, this was not just a science or physical science or engineering enterprise,” Koseff said. “This involved the humanities and the social sciences. So, having co-directors that came from those two parts of the campus sent a very important signal that everybody was valued, and everybody was welcome in the Woods Institute.”

A clear example of what bringing people together can accomplish are Woods Uncommon Dialogues & Workshops, which have united researchers, policymakers, and others to work past their differences and address pressing environmental issues. These dialogues have helped connect Stanford’s cutting-edge research with real-world decision-making, amplifying the impact of the institute’s work. An uncommon dialogue on improving the linkage between groundwater and land use planning informed California’s historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 as well as new technologies and models needed to help local managers manage groundwater. A dialogue on balancing hydropower’s energy and storage benefits with environmental and economic benefits of healthy rivers forged a historic agreement among tribes, industry groups, and conservationists that informed $3 billion worth of federal funding to boost hydroelectricity while removing outdated dams.

Woods also has been a key player in training the next generation of environmental leaders. Since 2011, the Rising Environmental Leaders Program has equipped a wide range of Stanford graduate students with the skills needed to shape environmental policy and practice. As part of a yearly bootcamp, the program’s fellows engage directly with decision-makers in Washington, D.C., and many have since become influential figures in government and environmental organizations. Since 2005, the Woods-led First Nations Futures Institute has prepared young Indigenous leaders to tackle environmental, economic, social, and cultural challenges in their communities.

Looking ahead, Chris Field, the institute’s director since 2016, sees Woods as uniquely positioned to address the “green on green conflicts” of the next decades – balancing environmental objectives like renewable energy expansion with the preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity. Woods’ interdisciplinary model will continue to be essential as the need for climate adaptation strategies grows in areas like food, water, and infrastructure.

Evidence of that enduring influence can be found in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, the university’s first new school in 70 years when it was created in 2022.

Students work in the Native Plant Garden. | Madison Pobis

“Without the work of the Woods Institute – the community-building, the scientific progress, and the commitment to practical approaches to important problems – we wouldn’t have had the people or the resources to do the things that have led to the Doerr School,” Field said.

That vision continues to drive Woods forward, building on its early successes and expanding its influence. As global environmental challenges grow more complex, the institute continues to demonstrate the power of collaboration in shaping solutions for people and the planet.

“We’ve shown what’s possible when you bring together the best minds from across disciplines, focused on solutions,” Thompson said.