David Lobell named chair of Earth System Science Department

David Lobell, the Benjamin M. Page Professor, has been named chair of the Department of Earth System Science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, effective Sept. 1, 2026.

One of the world’s foremost experts on climate change and food security, Lobell became a faculty member at Stanford University in 2009. He earned his doctorate in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford in 2005 and returned to Stanford in 2008 as a senior research scholar at the Center on Food Security and the Environment, following a postdoctoral fellowship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Lobell earned his bachelor of science degree in Applied Mathematics from Brown University in 2000.

Lobell’s work sits at the intersection of Earth science, data science, economics, and policy, and he brings extensive leadership experience to his new role. Since 2018, Lobell has served as the Gloria and Richard Kushel Director at the Center on Food Security and the Environment – a joint center of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment – and is also faculty director of the Center for Sustainability Data Science in Stanford Data Science. 

Lobell’s landmark 2011 paper in Science, “Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980,” demonstrated that warming since 1980 had already reduced global maize production by 3.8% and wheat production by 5.5% relative to what would have occurred without climate change. The study was among the first to quantify already occurring climate damage to agriculture. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his research on the impact of climate change on crop production and food security in 2013 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.

“I was attracted to Earth system science by the combination of some very big, interesting challenges and a lot of cool new ways of studying the Earth,” Lobell said. “The leaders I’ve had throughout my career always emphasized the value of doing use-inspired basic research, and of thinking creatively about how to unpack the complexity of the Earth system.”

Lobell advises both undergraduate and graduate students and teaches popular courses, including Rethinking Meat: An Introduction to Alternative Proteins (EARTHSYS 109) and Feeding Nine Billion (EARTHSYS 185), an introduction to crop ecology, agronomy, and world crop production systems. 

Lobell’s approaches demonstrate the interdisciplinarity of the Earth System Science Department, where researchers unite basic and purpose-driven research to chronicle how the Earth functions and changes. The department comprises 30 faculty, 17 research staff, 11 administrative staff, 36 postdoctoral researchers, and 68 graduate students.

Lobell succeeds Professor Noah Diffenbaugh, who has led the department as chair since Jan. 1, 2023. Diffenbaugh is the William Wrigley Professor in Earth System Science, Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment, and Olivier & Nomellini Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education.

“Our department has been very fortunate to have not just world-leading experts on our faculty, but also world-leading experts who are willing to serve the department,” Diffenbaugh said. “David exemplifies this: He’s one of the top scientists in the world, not only in his area but in any area. And he’s also a talented leader who has served the department and university in many selfless ways over the years.”

Diffenbaugh led the department during a time of rapid change, following its transition from the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences to the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, which launched in 2022. He is recognized by colleagues as an exceptional communicator and approachable, thoughtful leader who acknowledges everyone in the community and champions the department’s needs and successes before his own. He has been a model of how the department can develop policies and procedures that ensure everyone is treated fairly and that opinions are incorporated, one faculty member noted.

“In my view, our department has a very healthy culture thanks to a history of good leadership. Noah was an outstanding chair and embodies the best of our department. My main goal is to make sure we continue this culture amidst all the strains in the current world,” Lobell said. “I also think a chair’s job is to keep processes clear and efficient so people have as much time as possible to focus on research.”

Lobell will serve a three-year term as chair, a position that includes a seat with Faculty Governance, a group of leaders who help steer the direction of the school.