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Erica Woodburn

Research Scientist

Seaborg Research Fellow

Building 074, Room 0107C

M/S 74R316C

Phone: 510-486-5711

Fax: 510-486-5686

erwoodburn@lbl.gov

Curriculum Vitae

  • Education
  • Experience
  • Awards
  • Professional Affiliations
  • Scholarly Service
  • Community Service
  • Press Releases and News Articles

Biography

Dr. Erica Siirila-Woodburn is a Research Scientist in the Energy Geosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. from the Colorado School of Mines in 2013 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya before joining LBNL in 2015. A hydrogeologist by training, her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding physical, ecological, and geochemical solute transport processes across many spatial scales. Her research is focused in the fields of integrated groundwater-surface water hydrology, stochastic approaches and geostatistics, risk analysis, and numerical techniques.

Recent Research Projects

  • Understanding the impacts of climate extremes on watershed hydrodynamics and water management decisions in California with a LBNL Early Career Award and the UC Laboratory Fees Research Program “Headwaters to Groundwaters” project
  • Integrated hydrologic modeling of mountainous watersheds as part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) and the Interoperable Design of Extreme-scale Application Software (IDEAS)
  • Watershed-scale transport modeling of cesium following the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident of 2011 (in collaboration with the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency, JAEA, and the Institute for Resilient Communities)
  • Analysis of integrated assessment models to ensure the long-term, large-scale, storage of geologic CO2 storage as part of the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP)

   

Education

  • Ph.D. Hydrologic Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 2013
  • M.S. Hydrologic Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 2010
  • B.A. Geology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2009

Experience

  • Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2017-Present
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2015-2017
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2013-2015
  • Instructor, Colorado School of Mines, 2012-2013
  • Teaching Assistant, Colorado School of Mines, 2011
  • Research Assistant, Colorado School of Mines, 2010-2013

Awards

  • Hydrological Processes top downloaded paper award 2018-2019: “Watersheds dynamics following wildfires: Nonlinear feedbacks and implications on hydrologic responses,” 2020
  • Seaborg Research Fellowship: Early Career Development Award and selection into the Early Career Enrichment Program. Selection made by laboratory directorate, awarded to only ten scientists from across the laboratory, 2017
  • Early Career Development Award, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2017
  • American Geophysical Union Early Career Travel Grant, Chapman Conference: The MADE Challenge for Groundwater Transport in Highly Heterogeneous Aquifers, Valencia, Spain, 2015
  • Advances in Water Resources #1 Top Cited Paper 2012-2013: “A quantitative methodology to assess the risks to human health from CO2 leakage into groundwater,” 2014
  • Student Teaching Fellowship, Colorado School of Mines Hydrologic Science and Engineering Program, Golden CO, 2013
  • First place oral presentation, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Symposium at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO, 2012
  • Outstanding M.S. Student Award, Colorado School of Mines Hydrologic Science and Engineering Program, Golden CO, 2010-2011
  • Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) Scholarship, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2005

Professional Affiliations

  • Institute for Resilient Communities
  • American Geophysical Union
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Women Scientists Engineers Council (WSEC)

Scholarly Service

  • Session Convener, 2019 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting “Exploring Linkages Between Headwaters and Groundwaters for Human and Ecosystem Uses in a Changing Climate”
  • Session Convener, 2018 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting “Hydrological Connectivity Between Headwaters to Groundwaters in a Changing Climate”
  • Session Convener, 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting “Understanding the Extent and Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Water Resources”
  • Session Convener, 2016 Second International Symposium for Resilient Communities, Koriyama City, Fukushima “Radiological and Seismic Resilience”
  • Session Convener, 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting “Biogeoscience processes governing radioisotope transfers after Fukushima and other nuclear accidents”
  • Journal Reviewer: Advances in Water Resources; Environmental Modelling and Software; Environmental Research; Environmental Science and Technology; Journal of Hydrology; Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Analysis; Vadose Zone Journal; Water Resources Research

Community Service

  • Member of the technical advisory committee (TAC) for the East Bay Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) for implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)

Press Releases and News Articles

  • 1 Understanding the effects of climate change on California watersheds (LBL News Center)
  • 2 Lab launches early career development LDRD and early career enrichment program (LBL News Center)
  • 3 Scientists dig deep to track down California’s ever changing groundwater-supply (LBL News Center)
  • 4 Is this the answer to California’s water whiplash? (NPR KCRA)
  • 5 Like Oil and Water: The Arroyo Grande oil field and nearby domestic drinking wells (NPR KCBX)
  • 6 How California wildfires can impact water availability (LBL News Center)
  • 7 Fire, Then Water: The Landscape After A Burn (Jefferson Public Radio)
  • 8 Wildfires Affect Water Resources Long After the Smoke Clears (EOS Earth and Space Science News)
  • 9 NERSC shuts down supercomputers amid PG&E blackout (Data Center Dynamics)
  • 10 NERSC Powers Research on Post-Wildfire Water Availability (NERSC News)
  • 11 There’s a silver lining to California’s wildfires: More snowpack and water storage, study finds (Merced Sun Star) (Sacramento Bee)
  • 12 Berkeley Lab study finds California wildfires increase runoff, groundwater (The Daily Californian)
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