Lilly Jones is a hydrogeologist who joined Earth Lab as a Post-Doctoral Associate in the research area of Fire Hazards Modeling. She received her B.S. in Earth and Environmental Science from Oglala Lakota College (2013) and her Ph.D. in Geology and Geological Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (2021), along with a graduate certificate in Geospatial Technologies under the mentorship of Maribeth Price, author of Mastering ArcGIS.
Her dissertation produced an aquifer vulnerability assessment for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, blending hydrogeology, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis to address community-relevant challenges. Prior to joining Earth Lab, she designed curriculum and taught geoscience and hydrology courses as an adjunct instructor at Oglala Lakota College. Her expertise spans geomorphology, hydrogeology, environmental hazards modeling, Earth data science, and GIS.
At Earth Lab, her research focuses on predictive modeling of vegetation fire risk and integrating geospatial data with environmental hazards modeling and forecasting. She is proficient in Python and is a teaching assistant for Earth Lab’s Earth Data Science certificate course. She also serves as the technical lead for the Maka Sitomniya Working Group, and collaborates closely with several Tribal partners to advance Indigenous-led science and decision-making.