Shirley Leung
Shirley Leung (she/her) is the Product Owner of the National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion in the Decision Support Branch of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Shirley plans for development of the various technical components of the USGS’s National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion (NWDC) and conducts user engagement to inform effective and user-friendly delivery of complex modeled water information through the NMWA. She is passionate about working with government, non-profit, and community stakeholders to provide them with the tools and information needed to make well-informed policy and management decisions regarding water resources.
Shirley has a background in climate and hydrologic modeling, data science and visualization, science communication, and community outreach and engagement. She earned a Ph.D. in physical oceanography and an M.S. in hydrology/environmental engineering from the University of Washington. Her Ph.D. work examined how climate variability and change affect ocean ecosystems and the people dependent on them.
In past positions, Shirley has analyzed USGS National Hydrologic Model output, quantified congestion pricing-related traffic patterns, modeled the effects of new interventions on malaria, and conducted outreach to community members about the benefits of sustainable construction materials in Bangalore.
