Dr. Jonathan Lala is a Research Staff Level IV in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at EPRI. His research focuses on climate risks to resource systems across the food-energy-water nexus. At EPRI, Dr. Lala supports work on the resilience of energy systems in the face of climatic variability and change. He also takes an active role in communicating technical aspects of climate data and risk to a wider audience of electric system planners and practitioners.
Before joining EPRI, Dr. Lala worked on a range of projects related to climate risk and natural disasters. He served as a consultant for the World Bank on climate-resilience investments for water and hydropower infrastructure in Tanzania, conducted academic research on flood risk in high mountain Asia, and served as a volunteer on resilient infrastructure projects in Peru, India, and Panama.
Dr. Lala received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation considered the role of subseasonal and seasonal climate forecasts in natural disaster risk management
Recent Publications
- [1] Lala, J., Regassa, M. D., Zhang, Y., You, L., and Block, P. (2023). Incorporating seasonality into an agro-economic model of Ethiopia. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149 (2)
- [2] Lala, J., Lee, D., Bazo, J., and Block, P. (2022). Evaluating prospects for subseasonal-to-seasonal forecast-based anticipatory action from a global perspective. Weather and Climate Extremes, 38, 100510
- [3] Lala, J., Bazo, J., Anand, V., and Block, P. (2021). Optimizing forecast-based actions for extreme rainfall events. Climate Risk Management, 34, 100374
- [4] Lala, J., Yang, M., Wang, G., and Block, P. (2021). Utilizing rainy season onset predictions to enhance maize yields in Ethiopia. Environmental Research Letters, 16 (5)