Come discover what really matters to and inspires Pamela Matson, Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences; Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center for Environmental Science and Policy; Burton and Deedee McMurtry University Fellow in Undergraduate Education.
Dr. Matson is an interdisciplinary Earth scientist who studies chemical interactions among soils, water, and atmosphere. As a leader among scientists working to reconcile the needs of people and the environment in the 21st century, she works with multi-disciplinary teams of researchers and decision makers to develop land management approaches that make sense economically and environmentally. Working mostly in the tropics, she and her colleagues have identified the negative consequences of deforestation and intensive agriculture for the global and local atmosphere and water systems, and are working to develop new approaches that reduce those impacts while maintaining human livelihoods. Dr. Matson is the author of over 150 scientific publications and four books. A MacArthur Fellow and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Sciences, she is the founding co-chair of the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, a past president of the Ecological Society of America, and serves on Boards for the World Wildlife Fund US and the National Parks Conservation Association. She joined the Stanford faculty in 1997, following positions as professor at UC Berkeley and research scientist at NASA. She earned her B.S. at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, M.S. at Indiana University, and Ph.D. at Oregon State University.
All students, faculty, staff and friends are welcome to attend the Office for Religious Life's popular discussion and lecture series encouraging members of the Stanford community to reflect on matters of personal values, beliefs and motivations.
Bring your brown-bag lunch, if you like.