Alicia Torregrosa
Alicia joined the Southwest Regional Office as program officer in 2020 to work with regional leadership to promote & organize multidisciplinary & integrated scientific activities, serve as a resource on scientific & programmatic aspects of the organization, engage in technical and policy review, represent the Region on committees & working groups, and act as a science communicator.
Alicia was a physical scientist for 19 years with the USGS Western Geographic Science Centering prior to joining the USGS Southwest Regional Office. Her professional experience includes leading GIS teams to conduct impact analyses for regional federal and state permit applications, collaboratively developing socio-ecosystems models, and developing algorithms to extract ecologically relevant information from satellite remote sensed data. In 2012 Alicia initiated the USGS Pacific Coastal Fog Project which resulted in an international and interdisciplinary expansion of coastal fog research. Alicia's first task at USGS in 2001 was to develop a mobile geospatial decision support laboratory (DSL). The DSL consisted of 10 laptops running GIS and modeling software that were transported to stakeholder-based meetings. The DSL was used to inform and address diverse issues such as conservation land optimization, watershed-based land use approaches to flooding & water quality, and developing criteria for livable urban spaces. Prior to joining the USGS in 2001, she was on the global biogeochemical modeling team at NASA Ames’ Ecosystem Science and Technology Branch.
