Rebecca Tisherman

Rebecca (Becky) Tisherman is an associate physical scientist at the RAND Corporation. She specializes in geospatial analysis (ArcGIS), natural resource extraction impacts, topographic analysis, and soil and water contamination issues. Broadly, Tisherman is interested in land use change, natural disasters, mining, oil and gas, water resources management, and climate change adaptation. She has experience in a wide range of environmental fields including soil science, hydrology, geochemistry, geomorphology, geology, and fluvial dynamics. 

Her dissertation work at the University of Pittsburgh included using field samples and modeling to quantify soil and water impacts from natural resource extraction and land use change. Specifically, her research focused on the mobilization of contaminated sediments and water from mining, oil and gas production, and agriculture in the U.S. and in Yunnan, China. She previously worked as a geoscientist at PSE Healthy Energy and as a staff scientist at Langan Environmental Engineering and Environmental Services. In addition, she conducted research on the environmental impacts of shale gas drilling in the Sichuan Basin as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Chengdu, China. She earned her Ph.D. in geology and environmental science from the University of Pittsburgh.