Laura E. Garza Díaz

Laura joined the Washington Water Trust in 2022 with the desire to make a difference by restoring and preserving the social-ecological resilience of rivers. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Ecology from Kiel University in Germany and a Ph.D. in Hydrologic Sciences from the University of California, Davis, where she developed an ecological resilience framework to evaluate the sustainable carrying capacity of river basins. Her research informs conservation efforts, ecosystem management, and environmental policy. Laura believes in cooperation and collaboration between scientists, society, and decision-makers based on her first-hand experiences with international water management challenges. She is deeply familiar with the challenges of the transboundary Rio Grande – Bravo basin (USA/Mexico); and with the regional and local water pressures in California and the states along Mexico’s northern border. Laura led the Women in Science program in the Permanent Forum of Binational Waters and was an active member of the Rio Bravo Basin Council. She is highly motivated to bring new ideas to the Pacific Northwest and to find sustainable solutions and climate adaptation strategies that help river basins balance nature, culture, society, and economic development.

Laura grew up in Monterrey, Mexico. She loves to travel and enjoys pottery, oil painting, gardening, and discovering the US National Parks with her partner and dog.