A photo of the faculty's face with a background of trees with changing leaves

Research Expertise and Interest

ecohydrology, remote sensing, satellite experiments, stable isotopes, plant biology, surface hydrology, wetlands, methane

Research Description

Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi is an ecohydrologist interested in understanding water-carbon relations within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. She uses an array of methods, from satellite data to process-based modeling, from stable isotopes lab experiments to field measurements.

She graduated with her PhD from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University in 2017 and was a junior fellow from the Michigan Society of Fellows from 2017 to 2020, working in the department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering. After a year and a half as a Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division, she started as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley in January 2022. She remains involved with projects at LBNL as a Faculty Scientist.