Deborah Lawrence

Deborah Lawrence, a biogeochemist and Professor of Environmental Sciences, studies the effects of tropical deforestation on carbon and nutrient cycling and climate. She leads a research program on Food, Fuels and Forests, working with partners in environmental science and geography, ethics, psychology, and anthropology, engineering, economics and law to understand the drivers and consequences of land use change. She is trying to understand how forest cover affects climate locally, regionally and globally—focusing on both carbon emissions and changes to the exchange of water and energy. Recently, she spent a year as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, conducting research on the human dimensions of climate mitigation, particularly how people perceive, think, and feel, and how that translates into caring, commitment and action. Prof. Lawrence believes we need to better understand people to successfully address climate change