Our Story


Did you ever read a news article about how images from space were being used to monitor deforestation and predict crop yields? Or listen to scientists and engineers talk about machine learning algorithms and how they were helping inform people about floods and earthquakes and the safest areas to be in during a disaster?

And think that those were cool tools that would be really helpful in your area of work - but you didn't quite know how to get started among all the online courses that were available, or what was most useful in your industry, or how to translate what you had done for research into something industry would understand?

What We Do


That's why we started Ecoformatics! As environmental engineers, water professionals, agricultural engineers, and climate scientists - we wanted to build a platform that would help busy professionals learn and apply data science, spatial and temporal statistics, and machine learning to different clean technology sectors.

We conduct workshops and online courses on data science and machine learning in various clean tech sectors, publish reports on the latest research and technology, and help companies offer education and training to their employees.

It’s for anyone who is interested in understanding how artificial intelligence and data science are helping to solve problems in water, agriculture, energy, climate and so much more.

The goal is to enable the expert and the layperson to keep up with the advances in an exciting new field, land an investment opportunity, prepare for the next big meeting or find a job.

CEO and Founder


Gayathri is an award-winning scientist, engineer and entrepreneur who has been pioneering the integration of clean technology and data science since 2003. She worked at several organizations, including the Smithsonian Institute, Facebook, Argonne National Laboratory, Silicon Valley startups and is the recipient of numerous national and international awards. As a scientist, her work has been recognized by the US National Academies of Science and Engineering for innovative environmental research and she was invited by the Obama White House to participate in the first conference on innovation in clean technology and big data. As an engineer and data scientist, she built the data infrastructure, including data pipelines, dashboards and algorithms, for several clean technology startups. She received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Bachelors in Civil Engineering from BITS, Pilani, India. 

Scientist In the Spotlight: Interview between Gayathri Gopalakrishnan, PhD and Science Exchange


Research Spotlight: Gayathri Gopalakrishnan on Energy and the Environment


Awards for Innovation In Research