Melissa Beresford

Melissa Beresford is an Associate Professor at San Jose State University. Her research integrates social sciences and anthropology to examine water security, water policy, and water governance, with a focus on vulnerability and public policy. Her recent work includes developing the HWISE-USA scale for measuring household water insecurity, exploring the social dimensions of Managed Aquifer Recharge, and investigating trust in water providers. She has published protocols for intervention research on failing water systems and studies on undergraduate lab training and mentoring in social science research. Beresford received the NSF CAREER award for her project on moral economies in water markets, which examines human responses to water insecurity.