Marisa Escobar

Staff Scientist

marisa.escobar@sei-us.org

Marisa is a civil and environmental engineer with 10 years of professional and research experience emphasizing interdisciplinary linkages between engineering, hydrology, and ecology. Her background includes working on issues related to river hydraulics, river restoration, watershed management, fluvial geomorphology, and environmental sustainability. Her recent research focuses on developing a model of stream ecological functionality based on assessments of geomorphic dynamics, and applying the model to assess the ecohydraulics performance of rivers as a function of their unique hydrologic and morphologic characteristics. Other work she has pursued includes studies of sediment load retentions in a freshwater delta, the hydraulics of a slough adjacent to a tidal marsh restoration site, contaminant loading associated with compost produced from municipal sewage sludge, and optimizing the environmental performance of the floriculture industry in Latin America. Marisa has worked with both non-governmental organizations and universities in Latin America and North America and is fluent in both Spanish and English. Marisa received a B.S. in Civil Engineering at the Javeriana University, Bogota, Colombia in 1994, a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Los Andes University, Bogota, Colombia in 1998, a M.Eng in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, US in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Hydrologic Sciences at the University of California, Davis, US in 2007.