Eight Early-Career Scientists Awarded Delta Science Fellowships

The Delta Science Program and California Sea Grant are pleased to announce eight recipients of the 2022 Delta Science Fellowship. Each fellowship provides up to two years of support to pursue research that will advance the state of knowledge underlying high priority science issues that affect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) and its management. 

"The Delta Science Fellowship allows us to address key scientific issues in the Delta while investing in our next generation of science leaders,” says Laurel Larsen, lead scientist for the Delta Science Program. “The work of the Delta Science Fellows has a demonstrable, management-relevant impact and we are thrilled to welcome these fellows to the Delta science community."

The purpose of the Delta Science Fellows Program is to train the next generation of science leaders in the Delta by bringing together student and postdoctoral researchers with academic and community mentors. California Sea Grant administers the fellowship program on behalf of the Delta Science Program, which funds seven fellows this year from the University of California and California State University systems, while State Water Contractors provides funding for one fellow.

The 2022 Delta Science Fellowship awardees are:

• Elsie Cecilia Carrillo, a UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. student investigating the diversity and thermal physiology of snake species throughout the Delta and the functional role they play in its ecology.
• Andreja Kust, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher studying the genetic sequences of cyanobacteria to better understand the drivers and impacts of harmful blooms.
• Garfield Kwan, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center postdoctoral researcher developing conservation tools that identify stressful temperature and hypoxia conditions for key fish species by combining physiological information with existing monitoring data.
• Maiyah Matsumura, a CSU East Bay master’s student refining models of carbon sequestration rates in tidal wetlands by measuring the export of dissolved inorganic carbon.
• Megan Pagliaro, a UC Berkeley Ph.D. student assessing how restoration efforts in tidal marshes have impacted interactions across native and non-native species within local food webs.
• Nicol Parker, a UC Santa Barabra Ph.D. student updating her previously developed model of pesticide risks to include new irrigation data, degradation rates and impacts on humans and other species.
• Tara Pozzi, a UC Davis Ph.D. student mapping the various institutions and actors that make up the governance network overseeing climate adaptation in the Delta.
• Parsa Saffarinia, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher funded by State Water Contractors, investigating how changes in longfin smelt populations over the past five decades are intertwined with environmental drivers and zooplankton abundance.

About the Delta Science Program

The mission of the Delta Science Program is to provide the best possible unbiased scientific information to inform water and environmental decision-making in the Delta. The Delta Science Program carries out its mission by funding research, synthesizing and communicating scientific information to policy and decision-makers, promoting independent scientific peer review and coordinating with Delta agencies to promote science-based adaptive management. The Delta Science program is managed by the Delta Stewardship Council, an independent state agency that works to advance the state’s coequal goals for the Delta: achievement of a more reliable statewide water supply and a healthy and protected ecosystem, both in a manner that protects and enhances the unique characteristics of the Delta as an evolving place.

About the State Water Contractors

The State Water Contractors (SWC) is an association of California’s public water agencies and represents the legal, policy and regulatory interests of the State Water Project contractors, who are responsible for the capital and operations and maintenance costs of the SWP. The SWC works in partnership with other water organizations, and coordinates with Department of Water Resources on behalf of its members. Its mission is to advocate on behalf of its members for improved supply reliability and water quality based on sensible, science-based policies related to the State Water Project that result in sustainable and cost-effective management of the SWP for California’s citizens, economy and environment.