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Pamela Matson

Pamela Matson

Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies, Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University

matson@stanford.edu

Department of Earth System Science
Stanford University

Titles

  • Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies, Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University
  • Senior Fellow, Woods Institute, Stanford University
  • Member, Board of Directors of the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation at ASU
  • Member, Board of Directors, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research
  • Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, World Wildlife Fund
  • Member, Advisory Board, ClimateWorks

Biography

Pamela Matson is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute. Her research focuses on biogeochemical cycling and biosphere-atmosphere interactions in tropical forests and agricultural systems. Together with hydrologists, atmospheric scientists, economists, and agronomists, she analyzes the economic drivers and environmental consequences of land use and resource use decisions in developing world agricultural and natural ecosystems, with the objective of identifying practices that are economically and environmentally sustainable. With her students, she evaluates the response of tropical forests to nitrogen deposition and climate changes.

Dr. Matson joined the Stanford faculty in 1997, following positions as professor at University of California-Berkeley and research scientist at NASA. She earned her BS at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, MS at Indiana University, and PhD at Oregon State University. She is currently the chair of the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, and past president of the Ecological Society of America.

Dr. Matson serves on the board for trustees of several institutions including the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and is founding editor-in-chief of the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, a senior fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1994. In 1995, Dr. Matson was selected as a MacArthur Fellow. In 2002, she was named the Burton and Deedee McMurtry University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford.

Education

  • MS, Environmental Studies, Indiana University
  • BS, Biology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
  • PhD, Forest Ecology, Oregon State University

Journal Articles

2016

Jacobs, K., L. Lebel, J. Buizer, L. Addams, P. Matson, E. McCullough, P. Garden, G. Saliba and T. Finan. 2016. Linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable water-resources management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113(17):4591-4596. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0813125107. (link )

2006

Chapin III, F. S., G. M. Woodwell, J. T. Randerson, G. M. Lovett, D. Baldocchi, D. A. Clark, M. E. Harmon, D. S. Schimel, R. Valentini, C. Wirth, J. D. Aber, J. J. Cole, M. L. Goulden, J. W. Harden, M. Heimann, R. W. Howarth, P. Matson, A. D. McGuire, J. M. Melillo, H. A. Mooney, J. C. Neff, R. A. Houghton, M. L. Pace, M. G. Ryan, S. W. Running, O. E. Sala, W. H. Schlesinger and E. D. Schulze. 2006. Reconciling carbon-cycle concepts, teminology, and methods. Ecosystems 9(7):1041-1050. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-005-0105-7. (link )

2003

Hall, S. J. and P. A. Matson. 2003. Nutrient status of tropical rain forests influences soil N dynamics after N additions. Ecological Monographs 73(1):107-129. (link )

2002

Matson, P., K. A. Lohse and S. J. Hall. 2002. The globalization of nitrogen deposition: Consequences for terrestrial ecosystems. Ambio 31(2):113-119. (link )

1999

Hall, S. J. and P. A. Matson. 1999. Nitrogen oxide emissions after nitrogen additions in tropical forests. Nature 400(Jul):152-155. DOI: 10.1038/22094. (link )

1996

Hall, S. J., P. A. Matson and P. M. Roth. 1996. NOx emissions from soil: Implications for air quality modeling in agricultural regions. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 21:3111-346. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.energy.21.1.311. (link )

Matson, P. A., C. Billow, S. Hall and J. Zachariassen. 1996. Fertilization practices and soil variations control nitrogen oxide emissions from tropical sugar cane. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 101(D13):18533-18545. DOI: 10.1029/96JD01536. (link )

Book Chapters

2002

Hall, S. J. and P. A. Matson. 2002. Acid rain and N-deposition. Pp. 279-306 In: Gasche, R., H. Papen and H. Rennenberg eds., Trace Gas Exchange in Forest Ecosystems. Vol 3. Springer. ISBN: 978-90-481-6214-7.

Presentations

2008

Jacobs, K. L., L. Lebel, J. L. Buizer, L. Addams, P. Matson, E. McCullough, P. Garden, G. Saliba and T. Finan. 2008. Linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable water resources management. April 2008 Invited Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Chapter, National Academy of Sciences Sackler Colloquium, Washington, DC.