Christina Tague

Christina Tague is a Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on ecohydrology, integrating hydrological processes and ecosystem dynamics under climate and land use changes. She leads the Tague Team Lab, developing models like RHESSys to study water cycling, vegetation interactions, and disturbance impacts. Her work emphasizes climate adaptation strategies in mountain and urban systems, and she has advised PhD students Annette Hilton and Ojas Sarup. Tague holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Toronto, with earlier degrees from the University of Waterloo and Toronto.

Education

• PhD, Geography, University of Toronto, Canada
• MS, Geography, University of Toronto, Canada
• BEng, Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

Research Interests

Tague’s work bridges data science and environmental systems, modeling interactions between water, plants, geology, and climate. Key areas include:

• Climate change impacts on water resources
• Urban ecohydrology and stormwater management
• Post-disturbance ecosystem recovery
• Fire regime dynamics
• Model integration and visualization
• Decision-support frameworks for environmental policy

Scientific Awards

• 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellowship Award

Advising & Grants

Tague supervises research on groundwater management, urban tree resilience, and wildfire impacts. Her lab collaborates on NSF-funded projects like the Virtual Hydrological Laboratory initiative and the SERI Fire Project. Grant activities focus on advancing ecohydrologic modeling tools and their application to real-world challenges.

Labs & Teams

Director of the Tague Team Lab, an ecohydrology research group at UCSB. The lab develops RHESSys, a community-based modeling platform, and explores interdisciplinary collaborations with artists to visualize complex environmental systems (e.g., the 'Future Mountain' interactive exhibit).