Stephan Graham in Tanzania

Professor Stephan Graham, MS ’74, PHD ’76, joined the Stanford faculty in 1980 and served as dean of the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences from 2017–2022. In addition to teaching earth sciences courses, he conducts field research around the globe with his graduate students. His research interests include sedimentary geology, tectonics, climate change over geologic time, and energy resources.

About Tanzania, he says, “The Tanzanian ecosystem hosts a truly remarkable ensemble of wildlife, living against the backdrop of one of Earth’s great rift systems, the East African Rift.”  Among the topics Dr. Graham will discuss during the trip are the origins and geologic characteristics of the East Africa Rift, as Africa is ripped asunder by shifting tectonic plates; the spectacular but peculiar volcanoes of the rift and their impact on the ecosystem; and the expansions and contractions of the rift lakes with climate change.

• Chester Naramore Dean of Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2017–2022

• Welton Joseph and Maud L’Anphere Crook Professor, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

• Transitional Vice Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

• Professor, of earth and planetary sciences

• Professor, by courtesy, of geophysics since 1989 and of energy science and engineering since 1993

• Co-director, Stanford Project on Deep-water Depositional Systems, 1992–2022,

• Co-director, Basin Processes and Subsurface Modeling Group, 2007–present

• Associate dean for academic affairs, School of Earth Sciences, 1999–2007 and 2009–2016; acting dean, 2000

• Dean’s Discretionary Award for Distinguished Service, 2016

• Pettijohn Medal, Society for Sedimentary Geology, 2017

• Robert Mitchum Award, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, 2016

• Richard Owen Distinguished Alumni Award, Indiana University, 2014

• BA, geology, Indiana University; MS and PhD, geology, Stanford