Sonali Abraham
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Sonali is currently conducting her residency at the Pacific Institute where she conducts research to address challenges related to water supply, quality, and governance in the business community, with a focus on sustainable landscapes in the Southern California region.
While on campus, she worked on a project which deals with strategies to increase the sustainability of our water resources with a focus on water conservation in Los Angeles County. She also worked on the water component of the 2017 Sustainable LA Environmental Report Card for Los Angeles County.
Sonali grew up in the Middle East and Bangladesh before getting her BS in Chemistry at St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, India. Diverse experiences in these countries motivated a desire to work in the field of water resources, and more particularly, in the pursuit of clean water and directing it to people in need. She went on to get her MS in Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where she worked on the disinfection byproducts produced during chlorination of drinking water. During this time, Sonali also interned at UNEP working on a proposal to mitigate climate change in the Russian Arctic.
Armed with a strong scientific background, Sonali is working to expand and widen these skills to include water policy and governance. Her goal is to work at the interface of science and policy to secure water resources at a local and subsequently, global level.
