Mariana Cains Email & Phone Number

NSF NCAR Earth System Science and Technology Hubs (NESTs)- Provides scientific expertise (e.g., climate risk, place-based research) and technical support to core management team and interdisciplinary research teams regarding conceptualization of regional consortiums that would drive solution-oriented research to address local impacts of climate and weather extremes.- Leads the data analysis and writing of NESTs initiative scoping and feasibility report to NSF regarding the community’s perspectives on desire for and perceived feasibility of the NESTs initiative.

Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Lab (MMM)Project: NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography (AI2ES)- Conduct expert elicitation and content analysis of key expert users (e.g., NWS forecasters) to increase knowledge and understanding of how transparency, explanation, reproducibility, and uncertainty representation influence trust in and trustworthiness of AI/ML-derived weather and environmental information products.- Contribute to expanding the theoretical understanding of trust in and trustworthiness of information products through evidential findings from applied research with expert users.- Collaborate with AI/ML developers, environmental scientists, atmospheric scientist, and social scientists to develop use-inspired and user-driven AI/ML-based environmental products/tools.

Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Lab (MMM)

Dissertation: Integrating climate change vulnerability, risk, and resilience for place-based assessment of socio-ecological systems - Developed probabilistic risk and resilience assessment model for the Charleston, SC region quantifying multi-stressor risk to diverse endpoints of value (e.g. culturally significant land and buildings, ecosystem services, & critical infrastructure). - Formulated multi-level risk and resilience assessment parameterization framework for improved organization and identification of measurement metrics for risk and resilience quantification of complex systems - Evaluated regional climate change, sea level rise, and flooding efforts in the Charleston, SC region within the adaptive management scheme.

Indiana University Bloomington

Laboratory of Professor Diane Henshel: - Lead modeler for adaptation of environmental and public health risk assessment model to cyber security risk assessment as a decision-making tool for US Army cyber security analysts and defenders (DoD-funded). - Laboratory manager and modeling coordinator for cross/interdisciplinary research in complex system risk.Laboratory of Professor David Good: - Geographic information systems (GIS) analyst; developed nationwide roadside dataset for vehicle lane departure warning system calibration.

Bloomington, Indiana Area

Project Topics:- Human health risk assessment of involuntary acute and chronic gasoline vapor exposure in the workplace.- Environmental risk and exposure assessment of proposed quarry activities for local residents and wildlife.- Environmental health assessment of proximal asphalt production for local retirement community.Responsibilities:- Analyzed risk of multi-stressor impacts on human health and wildlife per EPA guidance.- Modeled and quantified routes of exposure, toxicity, and toxicological effects of stressors of interest.- Reviewed federal and state regulations of air, soil, and water limitations regarding stressors of interest.

Bloomington, Indiana Area

Project: Hoosier Resilience Index – To develop a decision-support and management tool for Indiana communities and regions to measure their readiness to respond to long-term environmental changes and immediate challenges; track and improve resilience over time using Index.- Technical and quantitative lead for climatological, geographic, and social data acquisition, analysis, and visualization; lead author for Hoosier Resilience Index Technical Document.- Adaptation of state-of-the-art vulnerability, risk, and resilience assessment methodologies and tools for town/city-level decision-support and management; coordinate stakeholder and community engagement- Literature review of up-to-date resilience literature and management policies.

Bloomington, Indiana Area

Instructor-of-record for upper- and graduate-level risk and science communication course.

Colorado Springs, Colorado Area

Performed analytical chemistry, data analysis, and project management of agriculture chemical studies (e.g. magnitude of pesticide residue on agricultural commodity matrices, pesticide dissipation in water and soil).

Bellingham, Washington Area

Project: Connecting Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment-South River Risk AssessmentProgram– Applied Relative Risk Model methodology for an environmental risk assessment of mercury contamination from historical operations of a textile factory along South River in Virginia.- Conducted primary literature research and documentation of potential pathways of contamination, exposure, and effect, and performed Monte Carlo analysis to construct uncertainty distributions for risk assessment.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Environmental Science: Risk Assessment

Master'S Degree, Public Affairs: Environmental Policy And Natural Resource Management

Master'S Degree, Environmental Science: Environmental Chemistry, Toxicology, And Risk Assessment

Bachelor'S Degree, Environmental Science: Environmental Toxicology