Real Problems. Real Partners. Real Impact.

HPH Action Labs drop Stanford students into real problems – partnering with nonprofits, government agencies, and mission-driven organizations to produce work that gets used. Not filed away. Used – to shape policy, guide investments, and improve health and environmental outcomes.
Each lab tackles a specific challenge like sustainable aquaculture, fossil fuel phaseout, or climate-smart agriculture. Students work shoulder-to-shoulder with a partner organization and deliver research-backed analysis, policy recommendations, and strategies their partners can act on immediately.

Why Action Labs?

For Students 

• Take on challenges with real stakes and real partners.
• Collaborate across disciplines in a fast-moving team environment.
• Leave with a portfolio piece that already informed a real decision.

For Faculty

• Amplify your research with support from HPH and multidisciplinary student teams.
• Translate findings into action through partner adoption.
• Help develop future leaders ready to tackle complex climate and health challenges.

For External Partners

• Receive high-quality, evidence-based analysis and recommendations.
• Advance your goals while shaping the next generation of leaders.
• Explore innovative solutions with Stanford’s backing. 

Ready to get started?

Whether you have a challenge to bring, research to amplify, or just want to learn more, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to Katie Vogelheim to explore how you can be part of the next Action Lab.

From Inquiry to Impact

Delicious by Design (SUSTAIN 123)

Spring 2026 - Instructors: Christopher Gardner, Tamiko Katsumoto, Sara Damore, Katie Vogelheim
Partner: Greener by Default

Hospitals feed millions of patients every day– and most of that food is making them sicker while quietly accelerating climate change. This Action Lab set out to change that. Students interviewed hospitals, chefs, clinicians, NGOs, and policy experts to prove that hospital meals can be unapologetically delicious, climate-friendly AND healthy. Current teams are embedded with Greener by Default and hospital advisors at Stanford and Kaiser Permanente– to recommend practical strategies to shift menus toward plant-forward, culturally rich food at scale. Because if hospitals can't model what good food looks like, who will?
 

Regenerative Coffee: Biochar, Climate, and Health

Winter 2026 - Instructors: Kate Maher, Katie Vogelheim, Emily Callaghan
Partner: Conservation International

Every year the global coffee industry throws away more than 34 million tons of organic waste– pulp, husks, spent grounds. Most of it rots or burns. This Action Lab asked a different question: what if that waste was actually an asset? Student teams worked with Conservation International and the Stanford Biochar Project to explore how coffee waste-derived biochar can rebuild degraded soils, lock in carbon, and put more money in farmers' pockets. Three teams dug into the challenge from different angles. Taken together, their work maps a credible path from waste stream to climate solution.

Blue Foods for Indonesia

Winter/Spring 2024 - Instructors: Jim Leape, Janet Martinez, Eric Hartge, Katie Vogelheim
Partner: Indonesia Ministry of Development and Planning

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of aquatic foods– yet the policy frameworks to fully harness that potential for nutrition and livelihoods have lagged behind. This Action Lab asked: how can blue foods strengthen sustainable diets and equitable economic opportunity across the archipelago?
Led by faculty from the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions and Law School, student teams developed policy strategies grounded in geospatial analysis and nutritional evidence, working directly with Indonesia’s Ministry of Development and Planning.

Winter Blue Food Action Lab Reports

Spring Blue Food Action Lab Reports

Renewable Energy in Rural America 

Fall 2024 - Instructors: Lisa Patel, Debbie Sivas, Luci Herman, Katie Vogelheim
Partner: Renew Missouri

Rural energy cooperatives power millions of American households– but instead of renewables, co-ops still rely on fossil fuels for 61% of their electricity. Students set out to quantify the health toll on communities bearing the brunt of those plant emissions.
Working with public health organizations and clean energy advocates, teams applied a Health Impact Assessment framework to rural fossil fuel dependence— and what they found was stark: fossil fuel plants in Missouri alone generate an estimated $1.6 billion in annual health-related costs, with nearby communities facing sharply elevated rates of asthma, lung disease, and high blood pressure. The teams delivered a policy roadmap that rural cooperatives across the country can adapt to build cleaner, healthier energy futures.
Read more: Putting a Health Lens on Rural Energy Choices