People / Alumni

Nicholas Depsky

Drought in Central America: Past Patterns and Future Projections (MS ’19)

Nick’s primary research focus is on the impacts of climate change on human migration and displacement. Specific focus areas include droughts in Central America, hurricanes in the Caribbean and sea level rise and coastal retreat globally. He has a BS in Hydrology from UC Davis and worked 4 years in the non-profit sector (Stockholm Environment Institute (Davis, CA) & The Nature Conservancy (Bogotá, Colombia)) developing water and climate modeling tools and engaging with local governments and stakeholders throughout California and the Andes.

He’s currently a PhD fellow in the Global Policy Lab and Climate Impact Lab (Prof. Solomon Hsiang), where he’s modeling the coastal impacts of climate change in order to inform federal ‘social cost of carbon’ estimates and assess potential future migration flows from coastal communities. He is also a member of the Sustainability and Health Equity Lab (Prof. Rachel Morello-Frosch), working on the implementation of environmental justice legislation in California, inequities in exposure to hazards related to sea level rise and storm surges and improving population mapping techniques.

Curriculum Vitae

Research:

Water Group (Ray), Jones Lab

Publications:

Exploring scientific information for policy making under deep uncertainty
ERG MS project publication on Central American drought projections
SPARCC report assessing climate & displacement in the US

Links:

LinkedIn

Contact:

njdepsky@berkeley.edu