Snehalata Sainjoo

Background & Expertise

Snehalata Sainjoo, PhD, (she/her) is an environmental social scientist who is committed to bringing the community voices in the design of locally relevant, actionable climate solutions. She earned her PhD in fisheries and wildlife with a dual major in environmental science and policy from Michigan State University, where she also received advanced training in environmental and social system modeling. 

Sainjoo has over a decade of experience in providing contributions to interdisciplinary projects on livelihoods, food security, climate risk and adaptation and community-based climate mitigation initiatives. She uses mixed-method approaches to assess adaptation pathways under climate uncertainty in an interlinked system of land and water using quantitative modeling coupled with qualitative approaches. Her work is shaped by her close collaboration with multidisciplinary scientists and local communities in Nepal, India and Cambodia. 

As an IonE postdoctoral fellow, Sainjoo is working with Melissa Kenney, PhD, and the IonE team in the improvement of decision-support tools, such as NOAA flood maps and other public-facing forecast products, in such a way that communities can better navigate, understand, and use climate information in their own decision-making processes. You can follow Sainjoo’s work on her LinkedIn page.