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:

1. •United Nation Development Programme
   

2. •National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics
   

3. •UNSO Office to Combat Desertification & Drought (now the Integrated Drylands Development Programme)
   

4. •UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
   

5. •Inform, Inc. (an environmental NGO)
   

6. •URS Corporation
   

7. •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.