Gabrielle Boisrame

Gabrielle Boisrame serves as an Assistant Research Professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Las Vegas, where she investigates critical water resource challenges through fieldwork, modeling, and remote sensing. Her work bridges environmental engineering and ecological management to address climate-driven water security issues across Western landscapes.

Her educational background includes:

• B.A. in Applied Mathematics with Chemistry minor from Whitman College (2010)
• M.S. in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley (2012)
• Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering with minors in Statistics and Numerical Analysis from UC Berkeley (2016)

Boisrame's research centers on wildfire-water-land cover interactions in mountain ecosystems, examining how natural fire regimes influence snowpack retention, streamflow dynamics, and watershed resilience. She extends this focus to agricultural water management, groundwater systems, and wetland restoration, employing statistical analysis and machine learning to model climate change impacts. Her approach integrates field measurements with computational tools to translate complex hydrological processes into actionable management strategies for drought and megafire adaptation.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals consistent emphasis on Western U.S. mountain hydrology, with growing integration of machine learning for climate adaptation modeling. Key themes include snowpack-fire interactions, agricultural water vulnerability, and groundwater-surface water connectivity, reflecting urgent needs for water security in aridifying landscapes.

Her collaborative projects with the National Park Service, U.S. Army, and California state agencies demonstrate applied research translating into real-world management solutions, including wildfire resilience planning for Yosemite National Park and water allocation frameworks for the Walker River Basin. Current work explores novel irrigation techniques and water trading mechanisms to balance agricultural and environmental needs.

Boisrame maintains active field monitoring networks in Yosemite's Illilouette Creek Basin and Nevada's Oasis Valley, generating long-term datasets on temperature, humidity, and groundwater dynamics that support predictive modeling of fire-climate-water feedbacks.