Dr. Rike Becker

Rike is a post-doctoral researcher at the department of Agroecosystem Analysis and Modeling at the University of Kassel. Her background lies in physical geography & geoinformatics, hydrology and environmental engineering, which shapes her scientific interests in regional and global questions around a sustainable water use in agriculture. Using process-based and statistical crop models, she quantifies climate change impacts on agricultural water demands and yields. Her particular interests are interactions of heat and water stress in plants, how well these processes are reflected in current crop models and their importance for selecting adequate climate adaptation strategies.

Next to her research she supports the teaching activities in the department. Her classes cover the areas of agro-hydrological modeling, scientific data analysis, critical evaluation of experimental data, as well as the use of GIS and remote sensing data.

Since 2021 – Post-doctoral researcher at the department of Agroecosystem Analysis and Modeling at the University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.

2021 – Completion of the PhD degree focusing on modeling climate change impacts on agricultural water demand and productivity.

2020 – Employee in the flood protection and hydro-meteorology team at the Water Management Association Emscher Genossenschaft and Lippeverband.

2017-2020 – PhD student at IWW water centre and TU Darmstadt, Institute for Applied Geosciences. Research on simulating climate change impacts on agricultural water demand and agricultural yields in Pakistan.

2014-2016 – M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – full scholarship of the UCLA Graduate Division. Focus: Water resources engineering.

2013-2014 – Research scientist and project coordinator at the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, TH-Cologne.

2012-2013 – Employment in environmental protection projects in the Peruvian Amazon rain forest, Puerto Maldonado, Peru.

2012 – Completion of the Diploma degree in Geography at the University of Tübingen. Thesis title: Water balance modeling to quantify water deficits in central Chile.