Kiparsky, Michael

Kiparsky, Michael
Organization(s): 
University of California-Berkeley

Kiparsky studies how water resource managers adapt to climate change and other changes to social and hydrologic systems, focusing on how risk influences decisions by the managers.

"I'm using the ideas of loss aversion and risk aversion to understand how managers deal with risk in their water supplies," Kiparsky said. "I also want to look at how these measures can clarify decision making in the face of uncertainty."

He also uses integrated models of water operations and hydrology to assess the impacts of climate change and population growth on the reliability of water supplies.

"This framework allows me to quantify risks, impacts and trade-offs that will result from climate change and a growing population," he continued. "I work on these questions because in the face of climate and water system changes, adaptive responses will be necessarily. Asking how humans should, and will, react will become increasingly important for understanding systems and planning for future changes."

Research Interests: 
scientific and organizational aspects of water resources management, with a regional focus on California and the western United States
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