Catherine (Kasia) Nikiel

Area(s) of Expertise

I am an ORISE Research Program Participant working with the SECASC as a Climate Impacts Post-doctoral Fellow. My background is in civil engineering and hydroclimate, and I have worked on projects related to land use change impacts on regional climate in the Midwest, water availability in Egypt, and humid heat waves in the Eastern United States. Currently, I provide climate assessment for at risk species in order to aid Species Status Assessment teams in including the most robust and current climate science in their reports. I am also working on a range of projects investigating future hydrology and climate in the Eastern U.S. including the analysis of future flows under climate and land use change and the quantification of ecological drought impacts. I am interested in learning more about monitoring and prediction of extreme hydrologic events, how to integrate climate and ecological data, how communities can adapt to and plan for changes in the mean and variability of hydrologic variables, and about best practices for communicating climate knowledge for direct application and decision-making.