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David Lobell, PhD

  • Professor, Earth System Science
  • Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
  • Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
  • Affiliate, Precourt Institute of Energy

Energy and Environment Building
473 Via Ortega
Stanford CA 94305

(650) 721-6207 (voice)

Biography

David Lobell is the Benjamin M. Page Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Earth System Science and the Gloria and Richard Kushel Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment. He is also the William Wrigley Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy and Research (SIEPR).

Lobell's research focuses on agriculture and food security, specifically on generating and using unique datasets to study rural areas throughout the world. His early research focused on climate change risks and adaptations in cropping systems, and he served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report as lead author for the food chapter and core writing team member for the Summary for Policymakers. More recent work has developed new techniques to measure progress on sustainable development goals and study the impacts of climate-smart practices in agriculture. His work has been recognized with various awards, including the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2010), a Macarthur Fellowship (2013), the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences (2022) and election to the National Academy of Sciences (2023).

Prior to his Stanford appointment, Lobell was a Lawrence Post-doctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He holds a PhD in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University and a Sc.B. in Applied Mathematics from Brown University.

Current research

In The News

Corn damaged by drought
Q&As

5 Questions with David Lobell on Food Security in a Warming World

cover link 5 Questions with David Lobell on Food Security in a Warming World
grain field
Q&As

Growing Climate Solutions

Stanford scientists discuss climate-smart agriculture
cover link Growing Climate Solutions
IMG hl
Q&As

Climate Central interviews David Lobell on climate change and global food production

cover link Climate Central interviews David Lobell on climate change and global food production