MESM 2025
Pronouns: he/him
Bio
Tali Cook is a Master of Environmental Science and Management student pursuing a focus in water resource management; specifically interested in groundwater management in accordance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Tali received his BS in Geohydrology (Earth Science) from UCSB in 2023 and an AS degree in Fire Science from Oxnard in 2011. Tali spent his senior year at UCSB researching and completing a senior thesis on the formative mechanism(s) for flat-topped seamounts and subsequently discovered, documented, and extensively measured 323 never before found seamounts on the SW Pacific Plate using multibeam bathymetry data.
Tali currently works as an intern for the Montecito Groundwater Sustainability Agency helping monitor and manage groundwater levels, community groundwater usage and contamination levels/seawater intrusion by taking well measurements, collecting samples, and creating groundwater level contour maps in QGIS along with weather data/rainfall graphs in excel. He is also mapping fault lines, paleo creek systems and plotting new found wells in order to better analyze the groundwater basin. Tali is a former firefighter (2012) out of Santa Clarita, and a Navy veteran (2013-2017; Operation Inherent Resolve). Tali is also a single dad to an amazing seven year old girl and is motivated through parenting to pursue a career in water resource management in order to provide a happy and healthy upbringing for his daughter. After graduating, Tali plans to stay in the water industry continuing his efforts towards the sustainability and management of groundwater to better serve and provide for our community.