Environmental Scientist, Engineer

Katerina Bischel is an environmental scientist specializing in water quality, contaminant fate and transport, and the application of machine learning and geospatial analysis to environmental monitoring. She earned her Master of Environmental Science and Management (M.E.S.M.) from the Bren School at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2026, with concentrations in Pollution Prevention and Remediation and Water Resource Management. Her thesis research, advised by Dr. Arturo Keller, investigated heavy metal contamination (arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury) in the Pilcomayo River Basin spanning Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay. The study applied spatiotemporal analysis and sediment-water partitioning (Kd) analysis to eight years of water and sediment monitoring data from 39 stations across more than 500 km of river network to develop geochemically targeted remediation strategies. Conducted for client Advanced Mineral Technology South Korea (AMTSK), the study drew on eight years of trinational monitoring data. Katerina presented findings and remediation recommendations to Bolivian government officials and built River Remedy, a publicly accessible scientific web application archived on Zenodo.  

Prior to joining AMS, Katerina led a computer vision research project at UCSB’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, training a YOLOv8 object detection model to identify bumble bee pollinators (Bombus vosnesenskii and Bombus californicus) visiting two rare coastal plant species, Ventura marsh milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus) and salt marsh bird’s-beak (Chloropyron maritimum ssp. maritimum). She also contributed to a preliminary watershed management plan for the Whitewater River Subbasin in California’s Coachella Valley, including discharge and TMDL analysis and BMP development across seven priority subwatersheds. Katerina has served as a teaching assistant for three UCSB courses, where she taught R-based statistical methods. Her technical skills include R, Python, and GIS, along with scientific web application development for environmental data. She graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Management from UC Santa Barbara in 2024, with a concentration in water quality and systems. 

Publications