Biography

Jim Yoon is a Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental Earth System Science department at Stanford University. Jim's research interests lie broadly within the realm of water resources management, water sustainability, and human-environment systems. His current work focuses on the development of an integrated hydrologic-economic model for evaluation of water policy interventions in Jordan and the Middle East. Through adoption of a multi-agent modeling approach, the model attempts to simulate diverse institutions and water users acting within a dynamic biophysical environment in a quantitative modeling framework. The research is a core component of the Jordan Water Project (JWP), an international interdisciplinary effort supported by a consortium of scientific research agencies, with further assistance from the USAID. The effort is aimed at developing a hydroeconomic systems model to quantitatively evaluate policies such as subsidies, water markets, and institutional changes in Jordan.

Prior to his graduate studies at Stanford, Jim spent several years working as a water resources engineer at MWH Global (Pasadena, CA), consulting for various municipal clients across the western United States.  His primary work involved the legacy Owens Valley-Los Angeles water transfer, investigating the ecological impacts of the transfer via groundwater-ecological modeling analysis and providing scientific input to policies and agreements that guide groundwater pumping in the Valley.  Jim is also co-founder of WellDone International, a San Francisco based non-profit organization developing technologies to improve waeesa electricity infrastructure in remote, underserved areas across the developing world. WellDone is currently focused on the development of MoMo, a remote monitoring solution for rural infrastructure, with recent support from the World Bank, USAID, and the Fab Foundation. Jim was an ARCS Scholar from 2011-2014. He obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering (with a minor in English Literature) from the University of California, Los Angeles.