RANDALL RITZEMA

Post-Doctoral Fellow - Environmental Modeling

IWMI East Africa & Nile Basin

Dr. Ritzema holds a Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering from the University of California-Davis, with a major in Environmental Resource Systems Analysis. His research vision has been to identify solutions to complex water resource and agricultural issues in developing world contexts through the use of rigorous systems approaches that recognize the integrated nature of water resources, agriculture, and other environmental resources, and their linkages to poverty, food security, and sustainability. He has focused this vision, with quantitative systems modeling at its core, on addressing integrated water/agricultural resource use issues in upland environments. As an Affiliate Research Scholar with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, Dr. Ritzema conducted a hydrology-focused research program to characterize, model, and assess linkages between water flows across the landscape and productivity of the rice-based farming systems found in the Lao uplands.

His experience with field- and watershed-scale analysis is complemented with basin-scale analysis and water management planning and strategy development experience via his background as a water resources engineering consultant. His experience in systems modeling spans a variety of modeling environments, including systems optimization and simulation approaches, in both deterministic and probabilistic contexts. He also has experience in a variety of water resource planning and watershed hydrology modeling environments, as well as GIS, due to research and consulting efforts with strong hydrologic and spatial modeling emphases.

Dr. Ritzema joins IWMI to conduct research in support of CPWF Nile Basin Project 4. His work will focus on estimating the potential impact of improved rainwater harvesting technologies in the Ethiopian highlands by assessing linkages between hydrologic and socioeconomic processes, and their relationship to food security.