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Kathryn Mika
Lecturer
Environmental Policy and Planning
Water
About
Katie is an interdisciplinary researcher who has worked in water science, policy, and research for more than 15 years. Her driving interest has been applying science and research to improve and strengthen policy and regulatory metrics to improve our environment with a particular emphasis on water quality and water resource management.
She holds a PhD and MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she focused on measuring and improving water and sand quality at beaches in Southern California. Prior to joining SEAS, she helped the City of Los Angeles heighten the sustainability of their water management as a postdoc at UCLA and worked in the Mayor’s Office to develop an updated Sustainability Plan for Los Angeles. She has experience teaching diverse audiences at various age levels, in settings both formal (university classrooms) and informal (science museums, K-12 lab experiments and field excursions).
Publications
Faber-O’Connor L, Hargreaves D, Samulon M, Obergfell J, Goldman K, Mika KB, Guevara E, Burga I, Simon V. (2019) L.A.’s Green New Deal (Sustainable City pLAn; Environment, Economy, Equity). 77p. https://plan.lamayor.org/
Mika KB, Gallo E, Read L, Porse E, Hogue T, Pincetl S, Gold M. (2018) LA Sustainable Water Project: LA City-wide overview report. 215p. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4tp3x8g4
Pincetl S, Porse E, Mika KB, Litvak E, Manago K, Naik K, Hogue T, Gold M, Gillespie T, Pataki D. Adapting Los Angeles Water Systems to Manage Scarcity in the 21st Century: The Case of Los Angeles. Environmental Management. 63(3), 289-297 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1118-2
Mika KB, Chavarria K, Imamura G, Tang C, Torres R, Jay JA. Sources and Persistence of Fecal Indicator Bacteria and Bacteroidales in Sand as Measured by Culture-Based and Culture-Independent Methods: a Case Study at Santa Monica Pier, California. Water Air and Soil Pollution 228(4), 124 (2017). https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11270-017-3291-y
Mika KB, Gallo E, Read L, Edgley R, Truong K, Hogue T, Pincetl S, Gold M. (2017) LA Sustainable Water Project: LA River watershed. 142p. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42m433ps
Gold M, Mika KB, Horowitz C, Herzog M, Leitner L. (2013) UCLA School of Law Pritzker Environmental Law and Policy Briefs: Stemming the Tide of Plastic Marine Litter: A Global Action Agenda. 30p. http://www.environment.ucla.edu/media/files/Pritzker-Paper-5-04-iro.pdf
Education
PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (civil and environmental engineering)
MS, University of California, Los Angeles (civil and environmental engineering)
BA, University of California, Berkeley (Earth and planetary science; Spanish language and literature)