Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi

Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley and a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division. Her research integrates ecohydrology, remote sensing, and stable isotope analysis to study water-carbon interactions across ecosystems. She previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Michigan Society of Fellows (2017–2020) and worked at LBNL as a Project Scientist (2020–2022).

• Education:
  • B.Sc., Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Strasbourg (2009)
  • M.Sc., Environmental Engineering, University of Strasbourg (2011)
  • M.Eng., Geophysics, EOST (2012)
  • Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University (2017)

Research Interests focus on the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, combining process-based modeling, field experiments, and satellite data to address climate change impacts on water-carbon relations. Key projects include studying dew/fog interception, soil moisture effects on plant physiology, and tropical wetland methane emissions.

Article Trends reveal expertise in microwave remote sensing (CYGNSS), solar-induced fluorescence (SIF), and stable isotope applications to ecohydrology. Her work spans tropical wetlands, grasslands, and polar ecosystems, with methodological advances in data processing algorithms and field instrumentation.

Scientific Awards:

• Society of Hellman Fellows Fund Award (2024)
• Michigan Society of Fellows (2017–2020)

Labs & Teams: Leads the Water & Carbon Lab at UC Berkeley, collaborating with LBNL’s Watershed Function SFA and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science SFA teams. The lab employs remote sensing (GNSS-R, microwaves, SIF), stable isotope experiments, and field measurements to address water-carbon dynamics.