José M. Rodríguez-Flores

Senior Analyst

I am currently a Senior Analyst on the Climate Reslilient Water Systems team at the Environmental Defense Fund. I am interested on the water-food systems and their multiple links with society, environment and economy. My research focuses on system analysis of coupled water-human systems. I use modeling tools such as optimization and statistical models to understand the evolution and feed-backs between food production, water, society and the economy, and how these change by changes in water policy, climate change, crop prices, etc.

Agricultrural landscapes are changing worlwide due to water scarcity and water management policies. Retiring irrigated agricultural land and repurposing to othrer uses such as habitat conservation, lower-water use crops, multi-benefit groundwater recharge projects, among others, can be implemented as strategies to acheive water sustainability and build climate change resilience. However, these transitions should be strategically implemented to have a sustainable, equitable and just transition. My work focuses on the ongoing land repurposing efforts in California, contributing to achieve groundwater sustainability and benefiting vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

I love to develope visualizations, apps and modeling support tools that can help in the decision making of water and land strategies for sustainable water use and multi-beneffit projects.

Feel free to send me an email, I am always looking for collaborations. Si prefieres hablar en espanol no dudes en contactarme.

Check my curriculum for an in depth list of my skills, publications, awards, etc.

Education:

  • Ph.D. in Environmental Systems
    University of California Merced, 2019-2023
  • M.Sc in Economics
    Colegio de Postgraduados, Mexico, 2018
  • B.Sc in Agricultural Economics
    Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, Mexico, 2015

Research keywords:

  • Water-human-environmental systems
  • Collaborative Water Management
  • Land repurposing
  • Multibenefit/Multi-objective
  • Agriculture
  • Groundwater
  • Water Management Policies
  • Hydro-economic models
  • Socio-hydrology
  • Water economics
  • Optimization

Merced