Christa Brelsford

Liane B. Russell Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory


Christa Brelsford is the Liane B. Russell Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Human Dynamics group.  Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. She obtained her Ph.D. from the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University in 2014 for research on the determinants of residential water demand. Christa’s core research goal is to develop empirical methods to understand interactions between human and physical systems, especially in an urban context.  She uses empirical methods like spatial analysis, network analysis, and remote sensing to explore the shape and topology of cities and neighborhoods. Christa’s research has been applied to problems of water demand, water institutions, and informal settlement upgrading.