Our Team
Staff
Sara G. Larsen, PE
Chief Executive Officer, OpenET
Sara brings more than two decades of experience in water resources management, data sharing, and cross-jurisdictional collaboration to her role as OpenET’s CEO where she leads efforts to both refine and expand access to critical, field-level water data.
Larsen came to OpenET from dual leadership roles at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Internet of Water, a data modernization initiative through which she worked with a broad coalition to address technology and capacity barriers to water data sharing.
From 2019 to 2024, Larsen served as Deputy Director and Chief Engineer for the Upper Colorado River Commission, where she managed multidisciplinary teams on crucial Colorado River Basin initiatives, including modeling, consumptive use estimation, water conservation program implementation, data infrastructure development, and more.
Her tenure at the Commission led to the four Upper Colorado River Basin states’ adoption of one of OpenET’s methods for the purpose of interstate water management. Her dedication to collaboration and innovation was instrumental in advancing the Commission’s goals of promoting partnerships, interstate cooperation, and the sustainable management of the Colorado River’s critical resources. Prior to the Commission, Larsen worked with the Western States Water Council to drive open water data-sharing initiatives across 17 states.
Larsen’s decade-long leadership on water data is built on an extensive foundation in civil engineering and water resource management. After early roles with the State of Utah and the Provo River Water Users Association, she earned a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering and Water Resources from the University of Utah.
Sara is dedicated to expanding on OpenET’s mission to provide actionable water data that benefits agriculture, ecosystems, and communities. With her background she is poised to advance OpenET’s impact, helping water managers, farmers, and policymakers navigate the complex challenges of climate change and water scarcity in the West.
The OpenET Team
The OpenET Team includes leading national and international experts in remote sensing of ET, cloud computing, water policy, and water markets, partnered with nationally recognized web development teams and leaders in the western agriculture and water management communities.
OpenET is very grateful to the support it has received from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; The Walton Family Foundation; Windward Fund; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Lyda Hill Philanthropies; The Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation; the Water Funder Initiative; Desert Research Institute Maki Endowment; the North, Central, and South Delta Water Agencies; the NASA Western Water Applications Office and the NASA Applied Sciences Program. In-kind support is provided by partners in the agricultural and water management communities, Google Earth Engine, and the Water Funder Initiative.
Forrest Melton
NASA / CSU Monterey Bay
Senior Research Scientist
Forrest serves as the technical co-lead for the project along with Justin Huntington. Forrest and Justin lead the design of the overall architecture and ... Read Bio
Dr. Justin Huntington
Desert Research Institute
Research Professor
Justin serves as the technical co-lead for the project with Forrest Melton. Justin co-leads coordination and technical support for ET software ... Read Bio
Dr. Jamie Herring
HabitatSeven
President
Jamie has been the executive digital producer for a variety of environmental information products with clients ranging from large multi-lateral ... Read Bio
Dr. Maurice Hall
Environmental Defense Fund
Senior Advisor
Climate Resilient Water Systems
Maurice advises on the overall strategy and implementation of the project, with a focus on building support among ... Read Bio
Matt Bromley
Desert Research Institute
Assistant Research Scientist
Matt serves as member of the technical support team where he leads in the refinement and curation of agricultural field boundaries and land cover data as ... Read Bio
Lee Johnson
NASA/CSU Monterey Bay
Senior Research Scientist
Lee is a Senior Research Scientist and adjunct faculty member in the College of Science at CSU Monterey Bay, and is stationed in the Earth Science ... Read Bio
Jordan Harding
HabitatSeven
Chief Technology Officer
Jordan is the Chief Technology Officer at HabitatSeven where he leads innovation in the areas of big data delivery and visualization. Jordan has worked in ... Read Bio
Alberto Guzman
NASA/CSU Monterey Bay
Senior Software Engineer
Alberto Guzman is a Senior Software Engineer with NASA Ames and California State University Monterey Bay as part of the NASA ARC-CREST agreement. Alberto ... Read Bio
Will Carrara
NASA / CSU Monterey Bay
Senior Software Engineer
As a Lead Developer for OpenET, Will helps steer the development and strategic direction of the project's technological ... Read Bio
A.J Purdy
AJ is a senior research scientist in the Department of Applied Environmental Science at CSU Monterey Bay and the NASA Ames ... Read Bio
Charles Morton
Desert Research Institute
Assistant Research Scientist
Charles leads multi-model software engineering and development, supports ET modeling teams with Google Earth Engine API ... Read Bio
Dr. Britta Daudert
Desert Research Institute
Assistant Research Scientist of Climatology
Britta leads development of the OpenET back-end data queries and time series tools in close coordination algorithms teams. Britta has extensive experience ... Read Bio
Gabe Parrish
USGS EROS
Remote Sensing Scientist
Gabe is a member of the OpenET model development team and supports implementation of the SSEBop model on Earth Engine. He works as a contractor for the ... Read Bio
Dr. Martha Anderson
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Research Physical Scientist
Martha conducts research on mapping water, energy, and carbon land-surface fluxes at field to continental scales using thermal remote sensing, with ... Read Bio
Dr. Gabriel Senay
USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Research Physical Scientist
Gabriel is co-located with the USGS North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Colorado and maintains a Faculty Affiliate position with Colorado ... Read Bio
Dr. Christopher Hain
NASA
Research Scientist
Christopher is interested in thermal infrared remote sensing with applications in surface energy balance modeling, soil moisture retrieval, hydrologic ... Read Bio
Dr. Joshua Fisher
UCLA
Scientist
Josh is the developer of the PT-JPL evapotranspiration model (Fisher et al., 2008). PT-JPL is a leading global-scale remote sensing ET model and is the ... Read Bio
Gregory Halverson
NASA JPL
Scientific Applications Software Engineer
Gregory Halverson supports the technical implementation of PT-JPL, and develops geospatial data processing software for remote sensing systems. Other ... Read Bio
Dr. Yun Yang
University of Maryland
Assistant Research Scientist
Yun is a member of the OpenET ALEXI/DisALEXI model team. Her research interests focus on detecting and monitoring drought impact through ... Read Bio
Dr. Yanghui Kang
University of California, Berkeley
Postdoctoral Researcher
Yanghui is a member of the OpenET ALEXI/DisALEXI model team. She developed the CONUS Landsat Leaf Area Index mapping algorithm and implemented the thermal ... Read Bio
Dr. Richard G. Allen
University of Idaho
Professor of Water Resources Engineering
Rick is involved with the development of the OpenET METRIC application and its implementation and testing. He has been a ... Read Bio
Peter ReVelle
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Remote Sensing Specialist
Peter is a member of the eeMETRIC development team and supports implementation of the METRIC model on Google Earth Engine. He has contributed to the ... Read Bio
Dr. Ayse Kilic
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Professor
School of Natural Resources and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ayse leads the development of the OpenET METRIC application and its implementation and testing. She has been a co-leader ... Read Bio
Mac Friedrichs
USGS EROS
Remote Sensing Scientist
Mac is a member of the OpenET model development team and supports implementation of the SSEBop model on Google Earth Engine. Since 2012, he has worked ... Read Bio
Dr. Anderson Ruhoff
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Professor
Anderson Ruhoff is a professor in Hydrology and Remote sensing of the terrestrial water cycle at the Institute of Hydraulic Research (IPH) from the ... Read Bio
Leonardo Laipelt
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Assistant Research Scientist
Leonardo Laipelt is a member of the OpenET geeSEBAL model team and supports its implementation and testing. He is an Environmental Engineer with ... Read Bio
Bruno Comini de Andrade
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Assistant Research Scientist
Bruno Comini is a member of the OpenET geeSEBAL model team and supports its implementation and testing. He has experience working with datasets of various ... Read Bio
Conor Doherty
Stanford University
PhD Candidate
Conor Doherty is a PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and a contributor to the SIMS model. Conor's research focuses on ... Read Bio
Margot Malloy
CK Blueshift, LLC
Principal
Margot serves as the lead consultant managing the OpenET project’s transition from a four-year philanthropically sponsored project to a self-sustaining ... Read Bio
Rachel O’Connor
Environmental Defense Fund
Senior Manager
Rachel is a Senior Manager with the Climate Resilient Water Systems ... Read Bio
Garshaw Amidi-Abraham
Environmental Defense Fund
Program Specialist, OpenET Inc
Manager
Garshaw is a Manager with the Climate Resilient Water Systems program at Environmental Defense Fund. He supports outreach ... Read Bio
Dr. John Volk
Desert Research Institute
Postdoctoral Scholar, Software Developer
John leads the intercomparison and accuracy assessment between OpenET satellite-based ET and ground-based measurements. Since 2018 he has developed and ... Read Bio
Chris Pearson
Desert Research Institute
Associate Research Scientist, Hydrology
Chris provides technical review and support to the OpenET intercomparison and accuracy assessment teams. Since 2020 he has developed growing season timing ... Read Bio
Blake Minor
Desert Research Institute
Assistant Research Scientist, Hydrologist
Blake works collaboratively on the intercomparison and accuracy assessment between OpenET satellite-based ET and ground-based measurements. Since 2019 he ... Read Bio
Christian Dunkerly
Desert Research Institute
Software Developer
Christian works collaboratively on developing the accuracy assessment of satellite-based ET against ground-based observations. He also prepared a ... Read Bio
David Ketchum
University of Montana
PhD Candidate, Hydrologist
Montana Department of Natural Resources
David leads the development of the OpenET agricultural field boundary processing pipeline and contributes data from ... Read Bio
Thomas Ott
Desert Research Institute
Assistant Research Scientist, Hydrologist
Thomas works collaboratively on testing and visualizing OpenET satellite-based ET results in the Google Earth Engine API. (MS, Hydrogeology, University of ... Read Bio
Board of Directors
Joya Banerjee
Joya (she/her) provides strategic counsel to social change leaders and organizations, with a particular focus on breaking down silos, building field capacity, and developing new partnerships. She currently serves as an advisor to a number of organizations working on water and the environment.
Joya led the Environment Program at the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation where she developed a ten-year grantmaking portfolio designed to advance a more sustainable, equitable water system that can meet the needs of people and nature and adapt to the stressors of climate change. She also served as a Senior Fellow at the US Water Alliance and a Senior Fellow at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center.
Joya is a board member of River Network, the Center for Diversity and the Environment, and OpenET. Before her work in water, Joya was an attorney at Latham & Watkins and worked for the City of New York. Joya enjoys climbing trees and building driftwood forts with her two boys.
Maurice Hall
As a board member for OpenET Inc., Maurice advises on the overall strategy and implementation of the project, with a focus on building support among agencies, policy makers and potential end users. He is also currently serving as interim Executive Director for the organization, and is responsible for leadership, management, and operations of OpenET Inc. Maurice is also the strategic advisor for EDF’s Climate Resilient Water Systems Team, and provides content support and guidance to EDF’s efforts to build more resilient water supplies for people and nature. He has more than 30 years of experience in water resources management and policy, with particular emphasis in agricultural water use and groundwater management. Maurice’s work has included consulting for urban and agricultural water agencies, serving in various water science and policy roles for global non-profit organizations, and serving as the water program lead for the Water Funder Initiative, a collaborative effort to identify and activate promising water solutions through strategic philanthropic investments in the U.S (PhD, Earth Resources, Watershed Sciences, Colorado State University; BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Tennessee Chattanooga; Professional Engineer (Civil), California).
Luis Villa
Luis is co-founder and general counsel at Tidelift, and serves on the boards of Creative Commons and the California Housing Defense Fund. Before starting Tidelift, he was in private practice, where he advised clients large and small on product development, open source licensing, and other tech-related legal matters.
Luis is also an experienced open source community leader, with stints at non-profit technology organizations like Wikimedia and Mozilla, and on the boards of the Open Source Initiative and the GNOME Foundation. Before going into the law, he worked as a programmer and earned a computer science degree from Duke University.