Jacob Long

I grew up just outside of Houston, Texas, in the shadow of the world’s energy capital. Later in life, I spent years living abroad in Mexico City, one of the largest urban centers in the world, and in the Canadian Rockies, exploring some of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. That upbringing has given me a unique perspective on a statement from a U.N. report: “Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment.” Over the years, I’ve seen the causes of climate change and I’ve seen the consequences – both have made me profoundly determined to use my education, time, and talents finding solutions to our climate crisis.

At Stanford University, I aim to build on these experiences and my educational foundation in geoscience by pursing a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences primarily focused on carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS). CCUS has the potential to dramatically abate CO2 emissions across the globe, especially if the scientific community, along with industry and government partners, are able to enhance and scale up needed technologies in the coming years. I want to use my research to help move CCUS forward by focusing on areas such as the mineralization of carbonate phases, the dissolution of reservoir lithology, the effect of CCUS on reservoir porosity and permeability, and the subsurface storage of other fluids such as H2.