Webinar: Floods, Droughts, and Water Security: How Is Water Data Critical to Climate Resilience?
We're partnering with ResilienceLinks to host a webinar highlighting how USAID and NASA are strengthening access to critical water data to promote climate resilience. Join us
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
9:00AM - 10:15AM, GMT -4
ONLINE REGISTRATION LINK
NASA Science Coordination Office Water Security Lead Chinmay Deval will moderate a panel discussion with water experts from across the SERVIR global network.
Meet the Speakers
Pete Epanchin is a Senior Climate Adaptation and Resilience Advisor with USAID’s Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security. He provides strategic and technical input on climate adaptation programming, and he provides support on strengthening adaptive capacities to address climate change, hydro-climatic disasters, food security, and ecosystem and carbon management. Previously, Pete worked on climate change at the Environmental Protection Agency and has been a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pete received his PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis.
Chinmay Deval is the Water Security Thematic Lead at the SERVIR Science Coordination Office. Chinmay received his Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Idaho. Previously he was an Utrecht Excellence Scholar at Utrecht University (Netherlands) where he obtained a Master of Science in Water Science and Management. Chinmay’s previous work has focused on improving the understanding of the implications of various land management strategies on water quantity and quality using hydrologic models and earth observation datasets. His prior work also involved developing data-driven tools to inform stakeholders’ strategies in addressing climate risks and guiding environmental decision-making.
Dr. Jamilatou Chaibou Begou is the groundwater mapping lead with AGRHYMET, a SERVIR West Africa consortium member. Jamila holds a PhD in climate change and water resources. She has an in-depth knowledge of GIS applied to water resources management and flood risk assessment. Prior to SERVIR, she worked for the German cooperation agency (GIZ) in Niger where she coordinated the flood communication component to support the Niger River Basin Authority. She joined the SERVIR WA program in 2020 as the consortium’s principal hydrologist expert where she coordinates and participates, with service leads, in the co-development of services to addressing development challenges specific to water and water-borne disasters.
Chinaporn (Pin) Meechaiya is a Senior Project Coordinator/Hydrologist in Climate Change and Climate Risk Management for SERVIR Southeast Asia at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). Chinaporn has experience in hydrology and urban design/urban planning and specializes in hydrology, flood risk management. She has worked on projects with consultancies in Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Netherlands. Chinaporn holds a Bachelor of Architecture, Urban design and Urban Planning, Chulalongkorn University and Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Water Science and Engineering with a specialization in Flood Risk Management, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands. She also holds a Master of Science in Hydro – Science and Engineering, Technical University of Dresden, Germany and Master of Science in Flood Risk Management, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
Jim Nelson is a SERVIR Applied Sciences Team member and a Professor at Brigham Young University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He earned his PhD in civil engineering with an emphasis in water resources at Brigham Young University in Utah. There he progressed from Research Assistant to Research Associate, to Assistant Professor. In 2008, he became a full Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Over his decades-long career, Professor Nelson has been a pioneer in developing digital modelling and informatics tools to help engineers and forecasters better simulate hydrological processes. His research has resulted in the development of water modelling software used by hundreds of organizations globally.
Dr. Angelica Gutierrez is a Lead Scientist at NOAA, with over 25 years of experience in the fields of hydrology, water quality, and environmental policy. She is a member of the Ambassador's Water Experts Program (AWEP), where she serves as an expert hydrologist on behalf of the U.S. around the world, a Program in support of the U.S. President's Global Water Strategy. Within the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), she is a Co-chair of the regional GEO in the Americas (AmeriGEO) and Chair of the Global Water Sustainability (GEOGloWS) Initiative. She is the recipient of the GEO Individual Excellence Award 2019 for her exceptional contributions to the work of GEO by improving water sustainability in multiple countries, and pioneering scientific and regional collaboration. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Technology Management and Public Policy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.