Laurel A. DiSera

BIOGRAPHY:

Laurel is interested in understanding how climate impacts society, especially in Latin America. She holds an MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University and, through the program, spent time in Guatemala working with the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow Project (ACToday), the first of the Columbia World Projects. There, she strived to increase climate communication throughout the country, specifically with locals in rural regions, and she analyzed the network of those who currently participate in the climate and food security conversation in Guatemala. Following these experiences, Laurel worked at the IRI researching the impacts of climate on Aedes-borne diseases in the Americas by assessing the skill of Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) models to forecast mosquito-borne disease outbreaks and analyzing how similar models can be used by decision makers to improve the livelihoods of their constituents.

Now as a PhD student the IRI, Laurel is researching cross timescale interference to better understand the impacts of different climate drivers on global precipitation. She also studies the use of climate services in different international organizations and how these services are communicated with end-users.