Michael J. Puma

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 09:46:02 -0400

Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/FragileFood
I am now Director of the Center for Climate Systems Research (at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies).

My current research efforts are focused global food security, one of the most pressing challenges of our times. Little is known about the susceptibility of the global network of food trade to natural (e.g., megadroughts, volcanic eruptions) and manmade (e.g., wars, trade restrictions) disturbances. More generally, I’m particularly interested in understanding the limits to predictability for our socioeconomic systems, as we need fundamentally different approaches for problems that are sensitive to non-predictable extremes.

I am also an adjunct associate professor teaching at the School of International and Public Affairs and a lecturer in the Sustainability Management program at Columbia University. My efforts on global food security are supported by a Fellowship from the new Center for Climate and Life at Columbia University (http://climateandlife.columbia.edu).

My previous work includes efforts at:
• United Nation Development Programme
• National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics
• UNSO Office to Combat Desertification & Drought (now the Integrated Drylands Development Programme)
• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• Inform, Inc. (an environmental NGO)
• URS Corporation
• Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers

I received my doctorate from Princeton University in civil and environmental engineering under the advisement of Professors Michael Celia and Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe. I also have a master degree in international environmental policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a bachelor degree in Civil Engineering (Water Resources) from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Columbia University.

Yoshihide Wada

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 01:16:24 -0400

Yoshi is Deputy Director of the Water Program at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He is also an adjunct research scientist here at Columbia University. Yoshi completed his PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His projects include estimating global water use and water availability by using the global hydrological and water resources model PCR-GLOBWB. His work also includes estimating and projecting global water scarcity, and assessing the sustainability of global groundwater resources. His current research projects include a global assessment of the sustainability of future food production under socioeconomic and climate change, and water scarcity.

Contact information: Y.Wada@uu.nl
Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=meSO9ooAAAAJ&hl=en

Soyoung Chon

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 14:37:01 -0400

Soyoung is currently researching the food security of the South Korea, with a focus on the interplay between domestic and international agricultural trade policies. She is a political scientist by training (with a Bachelor of Political Science and Diplomacy degree and a Master of International Affairs degree in International Cooperation). She also has a Certificate in Conservation Biology from Columbia University. Besides this research, Soyoung has also been a representative to the United Nations for the Korea International Volunteer Organization (KVO International - http://www.kvo.or.kr/) and worked with the United Nations Secretariat and the United Nations Fund for Women (now UN Women, http://www.unwomen.org/en).

Kaoru Kakinuma

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 15:02:27 -0400

Kaoru is a science collaborator at the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Her research involves assessment of vulnerability of social-ecological systems to climate change. She is currently investigating how future climate change affect pastoral societies (e.g. pastoralists’ movement and migration) and grassland ecosystems in Mongolia.

Kaoru is a JSPS (Japan Society of Promotion of Science) research fellowship for young scientists (Host institute: Tokyo Institute of Technology). She completed her PhD at Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

Roland Maio

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 10:51:11 -0400

Roland is a senior at the City College of New York majoring in Computer Science. His opportunity to contribute to the Global Food Security Lab's research has been made possible through an internship with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Roland's focus in this internship is to investigate the resiliency of the global food trade network to short term shocks, a fascinating and important topic in its own right but even more so in the context of the emerging picture of the impact climate change will have on agriculture. Roland intends to pursue doctoral studies in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Morgan DiCarlo

Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:10:10 -0400

Morgan was a NASA Summer intern in 2016. She authored an excellent report entitled “Development and Testing of an Interactive Single-Column Atmosphere-Land Surface Model”. She is now a graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Morgan also gave a TEDx talk in 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwjj50vCVtE.

Miriam J. Kaplan

Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:22:10 -0500

Mimi, as a 3rd-year undergraduate at Columbia University, completed a study entitled “Maintenance Of Greywater systems in the West Bank” in 2014.

Alexandra Sweeney

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 01:25:48 -0400

Alex researched virtual water trade associated with Nepal with a focus on its implications for the country’s food security. This research was an extension of a report that she coauthor (with Joy Larson and Christopher Ciano-Collins) in the Water Governance course, which was entitled “Water Governance Analysis of Nepal: Anticipating Climate Impacts on Nepal;s Water Resources”.

Matthew Codner

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:25:32 -0500

Matthew completed an independent studies program, where he focused on “Climate Change in Atlantic Canada: Effects and Adaptation for Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island”.

Thomas Timberlake

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:25:30 -0400

Thomas completed his senior thesis in 2012. The title of his report is “Water and war: A geospatial exploration of point source water access in conflict and post-conflict Liberia”.