Laura Fischer is a Principal Team Lead for Climate Resilience Analysis at EPRI and leads research on the physical impacts of climate change on the electric power system.
She currently manages Program 262: Climate Risk and Resilience, having previously served as Lead for Workstream 1, Physical Climate Data and Guidance, for EPRI’s Climate Resilience and Adaptation Initiative (READi). Laura was an author for the Adaptation chapter and Technical Contributor for the Energy chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Prior to joining EPRI, she was an ORISE Fellow with the Climate Change Adaptation staff at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she researched the impact of climate change on EPA programs and identified adaptation strategies being implemented to mitigate these impacts.
Laura holds a Master of Science with Distinction in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Georgetown University. Her dissertation at Oxford explored the relevance of extreme weather event attribution to long-term planning for disaster risk reduction.
Recent Publications
- [1] Wasley, E., T.A. Dahl, C.F. Simpson, L.W. Fischer, J.F. Helgeson, M.A. Kenney, A. Parris, A.R. Siders, E. Tate, and N. Ulibarri, 2023: Ch. 31. Adaptation. In: Fifth National Climate Assessment. Crimmins, A.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock, Eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA.
- [2] Climate Data User Guide. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2025. 3002028078.
- [3] Lala J., and Fischer L. 2023. Physical Climate Data 101. EPRI Report. 3002026223
- [4] Fischer, L. and Grandas, D. 2022. Library of types of climate-related impacts and response options for the electric power sector. EPRI Report. 3002025650.
- [5] Diaz, D., and Fischer L. Methods to Incorporate Climate Resilience Analysis into Transmission Planning. 2021. EPRI Report. 3002022199.
- [6] West Fischer, L. 2019. At water's edge: Motivations for floodplain occupation. In Flood Risk Management: Global Case Studies of Governance, Policy and Communities. London: Routledge.