Maria de Lourdes Corona

Marilú is a civil and environmental engineer who has worked on water quality and distribution projects in California and internationally. She has contributed to public sector planning projects that directly affect disadvantaged communities, has assessed emergency conservation and construction projects in response to drought, and has modeled agriculture-related contaminants to inform California’s groundwater policy. Marilú is grateful for her research projects with the National Science Foundation, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice 360° Institute for Global Health, Environmental Defense Fund, and Engineers without Borders. One of her favorite experiences is the evaluation of fogwater harvesting as an alternative water supply for Morocco’s Atlas Mountain communities. Marilú is interested in helping cities apply the growing knowledge of climate change to water and infrastructure policy. Marilú spent the summer with the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme supporting the development of the 2020 World Water Development Report and supporting governments in integrating national and transboundary efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This year, Marilú will join the Water and Environmental Team at UNICEF in New York.