Water joined gold, oil and other commodities traded on Wall Street, highlighting worries that the life-sustaining natural resource may become scarce across more of the world. In the state of California, the biggest U.S. agriculture market and world’s fifth-largest economy, this challenge is particularly prevalent. Farmers, hedge funds and municipalities are now able to prepare for the risk that future water availability issues can bring in the state of California.

Researchers, government, nonprofit, and public initiatives seek innovative approaches to help water consumers to take sustainable actions. We are a group of scientists from academia and the private sector who seek to develop a user-relevant tool to predict water risk that is relevant for water futures, using deep learning methods, user research, and behavioral data. This work is a part of the California Water Data Challenge under Western Big Data Innovation Hub.

Can we successfully predict the future value of California’s water amid fear of scarcity?

This is an UNPAID research project.

Faculty Advisor

  • Professor: Indrani Pal
  • Department/School: The Earth Institute

Project Timeline

  • Earliest starting date: 1/4/2021
  • End date: 12/30/2021

Candidate requirements

  • Skill sets: get excited about newer data sets, willingness to learn and apply, stay flexible, deep learning methods and knowledge on java programming will be considered as positive
  • Student eligibility: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, master’s
  • International students on F1 or J1 visa: eligible
  • Academic Credit Possible: Yes
  • Additional comments: Please meet the commitment you make