MESM 2023
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Bio
Sophia Leiker graduated UC Berkeley in 2018 with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences. Her interest in geospatial analysis developed during her undergraduate career, where she conducted her own thesis exploring how GIS could be used to assess offshore ocean energy potential. This experience, combined with a fellowship at the Summer Institute of Sustainability and Energy, motivated her to further utilize remote sensing for environmental problem solving at NASA Develop, a program under NASA’s applied sciences division. As project lead, she collaborated with organizations such as the USGS, The Nature Conservancy, and National Parks Service, to integrate remote sensing assessments in their management decisions. Her team created earth observation protocols for wildfire/forest heath assessments, invasive species modeling, and water resource analysis, eventually presenting their findings at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC.
Most recently, Sophia worked for Regen Network, a startup focused on the creation of a blockchain-based, data and methodology commons designed to track, monitor, and verify ecosystem service claims. Here, she facilitated method, program, and project development. At Bren, Sophia is specializing in Conservation Planning to advance her capacity to apply geospatial analysis and insights from Earth’s orbit into ground-based management solutions.