CIESIN’s multidisciplinary staff includes PhD social scientists from diverse fields (geography, public health, demography, political science and information science); master’s level social and environmental scientists; experts in GIS, data management and data policy; systems engineers; and applications developers.
Staff Directory
Tracy Anyona Obiriba is a master’s student in Climate Systems and Analytics at Columbia Climate School. She has previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Climate School and is joining the Summer Internship and Casual Research Assistantship Program. This summer, Tracy will contribute to the IPCC+UCCRN project and the GRID3 project, supporting research and analysis at the intersection of climate science, urban resilience, and geospatial data applications.
Salvatore “Sam” Vincent Ferrera is a student in Columbia College’s Department of Economics, where he has served as a Teaching Assistant III. As a participant in the 2026 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) Summer Internship Program, Sam will work on a research project focused on enhancing global urban air quality analysis through the development of high-resolution, population-weighted PM2.5 time-series datasets using artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches.
Saka Davaajav is a master’s student in Climate and Society at Columbia Climate School and a Pedagogy Intern with Columbia University Libraries’ Digital Scholarship division. As Social Media and Communications Support Analyst Intern for GRID3, Saka will provide communications and analytics support by translating technical outputs into accessible content, managing LinkedIn outreach, and monitoring data catalog and website performance metrics. Her work will help strengthen stakeholder engagement, showcase project impacts, and inform data-driven communication strategies.