Gemma Shusterman
Gemma Shusterman, MS
Software Engineering Manager
Environmental Informatics Program
Software Engineering
510-746-7389
Gemma Shusterman is the Software Engineering Manager for the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI). Gemma earned her BA in Computer Science with a minor in art from Mills College in Oakland and an MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab. She joined SFEI in 2014 after having previously worked at Sun Microsystems and Discover Magazine. Gemma and her team work closely with institute scientists to create engaging and meaningful data visualizations, tools, and interfaces.
Related Projects, News, and Events
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/news/FullBay3.jpg?itok=p3DfrrwQ&c=09cb3d175c639c76a62405aede39b094)
The Baylands Habitat Map 2020 is the first complete map of San Francisco Bay wetland and aquatic habitats produced since 2009. It provides updated maps of tidal habitats and diked baylands, expanding our understanding of the full impact of recent habitat change and restoration.
Created by the Wetland Regional Monitoring Program and San Francisco Estuary Institute, and funded by the US EPA Water Quality Improvement Fund, this effort marks a major advancement in tracking habitat change in the Bay.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/news/image-2023-11-09-12-44-05-664.png?itok=5zL3SHMr&c=85137275936162996cea8f01c26ae59e)
The Software Engineering team has undertaken an effort to migrate an older Pascal codebase into a modern, opensource, web based platform. Visual Plumes is an open-source, server-based application for simulating jets and plumes in water columns. Such simulations are critical for the preparation of mixing zone analyses, TMDLs, and other water-quality applications.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/cari.jpg?itok=GCu46qf1&c=28d719c601c0a41417f9f9b15977570a)
The California Aquatic Resources Inventory (CARI) is a Geographic Information System (GIS) based map of wetlands, streams, and riparian areas within California that is hosted online through EcoAtlas.
![Big Break, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Shira Bezalel](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/Big%20Break%2C%20Central%20Sacramento-San%20Joquin%20Delta_Shira%20Bezalel.jpg?itok=rAQHjNTE&c=ca5de73814b12c5801fae3f8786cccaa)
The State of Our Estuary (formerly the State of the Estuary Report) evaluates the status and trends of a suite of indicators selected to represent ecosystem health in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (the Estuary).
![Photo credit: Pete Kauhanen, SFEI](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/DSC02354%20%28Cortemadera-%20edge%2C%20tree%29.jpg?itok=r2cfiFBU&c=6fb4907077a2732933434c8bd857daf7)
The Baylands Habitat Map 2020 (BHM 2020) updates the existing map of tidal marsh, tidal flats and diked baylands and incorporates the many changes in baylands distribution and abundance that have occurred over the last two decades. It also includes new information about land use and infrastructure that affects baylands restoration and management constraints and opportunities.
![https://fhab.sfei.org](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/Screenshot%202024-03-21%20215440.png?itok=UcJHj8lT&c=8399ee0ddf0ca2e97a9746d47f9fa251)
Over the last decade, harmful algal blooms (HABs) have emerged as one of the highest-priority water quality management issues in the San Francisco Estuary, which includes the San Francisco Bay (Bay) and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta). Although major HAB events in the Bay have historically been rare, recent studies have determined that multiple HAB species and their toxins are frequently detected, highlighting the potential for major HAB risks.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/news/CoastalHabitatProfile.png?itok=tA8NIr-y&c=b686e5e0eed5490b5e03cba61073f4e9)
EcoAtlas is a mapping and geographic data visualization tool that continues to evolve to meet emerging needs. The toolset now includes new data layers and summaries to support the watershed planning, tracking, and reporting needs for the state. Within EcoAtlas, the Landscape Profile Tool provides easy access to summaries and data visualizations on watershed characteristics, ecological condition, habitat connectivity, and coastal habitats for an area of interest.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/suisun_1.jpg?itok=Yc9LJ_g5&c=2beb83f1baa2a5a1afcee7ca48ef8f83)
The largest brackish marsh on the West Coast, Suisun Marsh is a unique transitional landscape between San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Marsh supports high ecological diversity and has long been managed for recreational hunting and native species support, yet it is threatened by an uncertain future under climate change. Effective adaptation in Suisun will require coordinated, science-based planning by agencies and private landowners.
![SFEI’s drone technology is helping track the trash across California.<br />Pictured from left to right: Pete Kauhanen, Shelly Moore, Tony Hale, Sherry Lippiatt. <br />Photo courtesy of Shelly Moore, SCCWRP](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/IMG_0632.png?itok=SbGI51mY&c=ec2e809c083b932ea69a83ab012a1f39)
The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), in close partnership with the State Water Board, has recognized the importance of standard methods for trash monitoring and has funded this project. The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) and San Francisco Bay Estuary Institute (SFEI) have partnered up to test multiple trash monitoring methods with a goal of developing a library of methods with known levels of precision, accuracy, and cross-comparability of results, and linking these methods to specific management questions.
![Photo credit: Shira Bezalel, 2016](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/delta.png?itok=4xgtI46K&c=1955a9df86ff042ce0f2b2c9d412c015)
DARI is the Delta Aquatic Resources Inventory of surface waters, wetlands and other aquatic resources in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). The goal of the DARI project is to develop a geospatial inventory of aquatic resources that will be used as a common base map for the Delta. A similar mapping approach used to create the California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI) will be applied to provide a map of the aquatic resources and their associated attributes.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/90D23AE1-422D-469C-BB7D-F779C9B5CAB0.jpeg?itok=GXQmhNTy&c=fd192540b6aed9120f50ab0ef1a3d192)
Protecting carbon stocks and increasing carbon sequestration can support climate change mitigation and maintain healthy, resilient ecosystems. To support SFPUC managers in making informed carbon management decisions, the Alameda Watershed Carbon Assessment offers scientific guidance on the watershed’s current and potential performance as a natural climate solution. This assessment was framed by two main objectives: to quantify current carbon stocks in the Alameda Watershed, and to evaluate opportunities to enhance carbon sequestration in its vegetation and soils.
![Landscape Scenario Planning Tool](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/BLM_CC_CosumnesRiverPreserve_Dec28_2014_BobWick_BLM.jpg?itok=DllH-JSx&c=d9b3ae7e5a5d2fde38f01453cdf37181)
This project is a tool for planning scenarios of landscape-scale restoration. The tool is designed to inform ongoing and future restoration planning efforts. In particular, this tool will help inform implementation of restoration objectives as described in the Delta Plan, as well as the ongoing Ecosystem Amendment to Chapter 4.
In partnership with the Delta Stewardship Council, the San Francisco Estuary Institute has developed version 2.0 of the Landscape Scenario Planning Tool, a GIS-based analysis toolkit to evaluate user-designed land use and restoration scenarios for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh. This free mapping toolbox brings together ten years of science-based research and peer-reviewed methods for California’s Delta-Suisun region.
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/rwsm-logo2.png?itok=VY1rraly&c=6324a053e6de9d1007e4b4479c424829)
The Regional Watershed Spreadsheet Model (RWSM) was developed to estimate average annual regional and sub-regional scale loads for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is part of a class of deterministic empirical models based on the volume-concentration method.
![Photo credit: Shira Bezalel](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/SBezalel-20190504-A7302054.jpg?itok=CUnWVLxc&c=91dad77c0063cab3c1bf111400d043ab)
The Ocean Protection Council (OPC) and SFEI will develop an inventory of the wetlands and other surface waters of all California’s coastal HUC-8 watersheds, including the inland Delta of the San Francisco Estuary, to help implement the OPC’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. The inventory will include a dashboard and other online tools that enable the OPC and the public to track progress towards multiple O
![](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/news/HDC_Graphic.png?itok=owNm_3Ym&c=85137275936162996cea8f01c26ae59e)
How do you know if the ecological conditions of your wetland project are aligned with expected rates of improvement?
![Photo credit: Elaine Blok, USFWS](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/Russian_River_EBlok.jpg?itok=tS4uOLcQ&c=8e29e08ac3ec08c7058e49c6c021e16c)
This project will build on existing projects funded by the CA State Water Board, Ocean Protection Council, Sonoma Ecology Center, and Sonoma County to produce a basemap of aquatic resources, using the updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of the California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI), including at-risk waters and their riparian areas, to support the Russian River Regional Monitoring Program (R3MP). The main tasks of the project are to:
The California Wetland Program Plan (WPP) seeks to strengthen protection for wetlands in many ways, including building capacity to track the net benefits of wetland policies and programs by employing aspects of the State’s Wetlands and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP).
![Delta Landscapes](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/BLM_CC_CosumnesRiverPreserve_Dec28_2014_BobWick_BLM.jpg?itok=DllH-JSx&c=d9b3ae7e5a5d2fde38f01453cdf37181)
This project is a tool for planning scenarios of landscape-scale restoration of the Delta. The tool is designed to inform ongoing and future restoration planning efforts in the Delta. In particular, this tool will help inform implementation of restoration objectives as described in the Delta Plan, as well as the ongoing Ecosystem Amendment to Chapter 4.
![DARI map](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/news/2022-04-18_12-17-17.png?itok=bI8del7t&c=dd2148c54ca46b783cb674baecffffd2)
The Delta Aquatic Resource Inventory (DARI) is a map of surface waters, wetlands and other aquatic resources in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A similar mapping approach used to create the Bay Area Aquatic Resource Inventory (BAARI) was applied to complete a consistent map across the larger San Francisco Estuary. Both DARI and BAARI are integrated into the California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI), which serves as the basemap in EcoAtlas.
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