Taken during a trip to Sacramento, CA to learn from leaders in state government as part of the Rising Environmental Leaders Program at Stanford University. Picture Credit: Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

I am an Applied Scientist at Descartes Labs, based in New York. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University’s Department of Earth System Science working with Prof. Noah Diffenbaugh, and an inaugural member of the Stanford Data Science Scholars. From May through October of 2018, I was also a Consultant for the World Bank, providing technical advice to support investments in hydrometeorological services in West Africa.

​Prior to Stanford, I obtained my Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University, where I also pursued a certificate in Science Technology, and Environmental Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. At Princeton, I worked with Prof. Justin Sheffield and Prof. Eric Wood on various aspects of the causes and impacts of droughts. In my Ph.D. thesis, I showed that droughts can move across continents all over the world, and studied the expected increase in frequency and severity of droughts in the U.S. due to climate change. I also showed that droughts in the western U.S. can significantly increase emissions of CO2 and other pollutants from the power sector. 

I was awarded the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship  from 2014-2017, and in 2015 I participated in the Young Scientists Summer Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). I have presented at national and international conferences including the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, and have also been invited to present at several universities and at The World Bank Group.

In 2015, I co-founded Highwire Earth, an ongoing interdisciplinary online publication on sustainable development, where members of the Princeton University community share their work and insights. At Princeton, I also served as President of the Latino Graduate Student Association (2013-2014) and President of the Graduate Student Representatives in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2014-2015).

In 2012, I received my B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. At Columbia, I was part of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association (Model UN) and the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders. I am originally from Mexico City, Mexico, and when I am not analyzing data, I enjoy swimming, running, skiing, playing soccer, reading, blogging, and traveling.