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Chris Field
Melvin and Joan Lane Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Professor of Earth System Science, of Biology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute
Department:
Biology
PhD, Stanford University, Biological Sciences (1981)
AB, Harvard College, Biology (1975)
Chris Field is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at Stanford University. From 2016 to 2026, he was the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Prior to his 2016 appointment at the Stanford Woods Institute, Field was a staff member at the Carnegie Institution for Science (1984-2002) and founding director of the Carnegie’s Department of Global Ecology (2002-2016).
Field's research focuses on climate change, especially solutions that improve lives now, decrease the amount of future warming, and support vibrant economies. Recent projects emphasize decreasing risks from coastal flooding and wildfires. He has been deeply involved with national and international-efforts to advance understanding of global ecology and climate change. Field was co-chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2008-2015), where he led the effort on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” (2012), and “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability(2014). His widely cited work has earned many recognitions, including election to the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Japan Prize, the Max Planck Research Award, and the Roger Revelle Medal. Field is a member of the Board of Directors of World Wildlife Fund (US) and the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the Ecological Society of America.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in biology from Stanford.
Prior to his 2016 appointment at the Stanford Woods Institute, Field was a staff member at the Carnegie Institution for Science (1984-2002) and founding director of the Carnegie’s Department of Global Ecology (2002-2016).
Field's research focuses on climate change, especially solutions that improve lives now, decrease the amount of future warming, and support vibrant economies. Recent projects emphasize decreasing risks from coastal flooding and wildfires. He has been deeply involved with national and international-efforts to advance understanding of global ecology and climate change. Field was co-chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2008-2015), where he led the effort on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” (2012), and “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability(2014). His widely cited work has earned many recognitions, including election to the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Japan Prize, the Max Planck Research Award, and the Roger Revelle Medal. Field is a member of the Board of Directors of World Wildlife Fund (US) and the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the Ecological Society of America.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in biology from Stanford.
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