ABOUT ME
I am a Statistics Professor with research interests in spatial and temporal analysis of environmental data, including the development of risk assessment methods to evaluate the impacts of natural hazards under potential climate change. I did my PhD at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. I was a professor at the graduate programs of Statistics at Simón Bolívar University, Caracas, Venezuela for more than 20 years. I was a member of the Science Steering Committee of the Biospherical Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle project from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) and Lead author of the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment report. I used to teach as a short term Visiting Scholar at the Department of Statistics at the University of California in Santa Cruz, between 2008 and 2017. I was a visiting professor at the Division of Statistics at Northern Illinois University during the academic years 2017-2019. I am now a visiting associate professor at the Department of Statistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I was elected as president of The International Environmetrics Society (TIES) for the period 2019-2021 and I am an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) since January 2019.
MY EXPERIENCE
Background & Expertise
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
January 1996 - Present
Visiting Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (May 2019 - Present)
Visiting Professor, Northern Illinois University, Division of Statistics (Aug 2017-May 2019)
Visiting Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, University of California in Santa Cruz (Sep 2016 – Mar 2017, Mar 2016 – Jun 2016, Mar 2015 – Jun 2015, Mar 2013 – Jun 2013, Jan 2012 – Jun 2012,Jun 2011 – Jul 2011, Jul 2008 – Ago 2008)
Full Professor, Department of Scientific Computing and Statistics, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela (Jan 1996 - Dic 2013)
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
September 1992 - Present
Research Scientist, Center for Statistics and Applied Mathematics (CEsMa), Mathematical and Statistical modeling group within Simón Bolívar University, Caracas, Venezuela. (Jan 1992 -Present)
Prometheus Researcher, funded by the National Secretary of Science and Technology and Invited professor to the Climate Change Master Program, ESPOL, Guayaquil, Ecuador (Jan 2014 – Sep 2014)
Visiting Scientist, Instituto Nacional do Pesquisas Espaciais, Sao José dos Campos, Brazil (Apr – Jun and Sep – Dec, 2008).
Visiting Scientist (Sabbatical leave): University of New Hampshire, Institute for the Study of the Earth, Ocean and the Space,Complex Systems Research Center, Water System Analysis Group (Sep 2000 – Jul 2001)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
May 2013 - Present
Development Structural Equations Models for Brand Equity estimation in the banking sector, using a Bayesian approach, Intelligent Corp, Caracas-Venezuela (Mar 2017 -Dec 2017).
Hydrological modeler and climate data analyst. Empresa Nacional de Energia Eléctrica (ENEL), Nicaragua (Feb 2016-Jul 2016).
Mathematician and Data Analyst. Data Analyst Consultant, Biotica Inc., Guayaquil, Ecuador (Nov 2014-Jul 2015).
Biostatistician. Statistical Analyst, Consultant, Novartis de Venezuela (Mar 2013-Dec 2013).
EDUCATION
January 1987 - March 1992
PHD IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Dissertation: Stochastic modeling of temporal and spatial variability of weather patterns for crop model applications. Griffith University, Brisbane-Australia
September 1980 - September 1982
MSC ENGINEERING AND PLANNING OF WATER RESOURCES
Dissertation: An alternative method of flood routing in rivers with tributaries. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas-Venezuela
September 1975 - July 1980
LICENCIATE IN MATHEMATICS
Concentration areas: Probability and Statistics, Numerical Analysis and Optimization. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas- Venezuela
A full list of publications is available in my CV
Villalta, D. E., Bravo de Guenni, L., & Sajo-Castelli, A. M. (2020). Spatio-temporal modelling of hydro-meteorological derived risk using a Bayesian approach: a case study in Venezuela. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 34(3-4), 513-529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-020-01783-3
García, I., Huo, S., Prado, R., & Bravo, L. (2020). Dynamic Bayesian temporal modeling and forecasting of short-term wind measurements. Renewable Energy, 161, 55-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.05.182
E. Vivas, H. Allende-Cid, R. Salas and L. Bravo (2019). "Polynomial and Wavelet-Type Transfer Function Models to Improve Fisheries’ Landing Forecasting with Exogenous Variables". Entropy 2019, 21, 1082; doi:10.3390/e21111082.
Gensini, V.A and Bravo de Guenni, L. 2019: Environmental covariate representation of Seasonal U.S. tornado frequency. Journal of the American Meteorological Society, 58: 1353:1367. DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0305.1.
Diodatto, N., Bravo de Guenni, L., García, M. and Bellochi, G. 2019. Decadal Oscillation in the predictability of Palmer Drought Severity index in California. Climate, 7(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7010006.
Méndez, M., Córdova, J., Bravo de Guenni, L., Pacheco, H., Chunga, K., Toulkeridis, T. 2019. Predictive models to estimate sediment volumes deposited by debris flows (Vargas state, Venezuela): an adjustment of multivariate statistical techniques. Environmental Earth Sciences, 78:350,. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-019-8346-5 .
Guenni, O., E. Romero, Y. Guédez, L.B. Guenni, and J. Pittermann. 2018. Influence of low light intensity on growth and biomass allocation, leaf photosynthesis and canopy radiation interception and use in two forage species of Centrosema (DC). Benth. Grass Forage Sci. 73:967–978. doi:10.1111/gfs.12368
Bravo de Guenni, L., M. García, A.G. Muñoz, J.L. Santos, A. Cedeño, A. Perugachi, J.E. Castillo. 2016. Predicting precipitation along coastal Ecuador: ENSO and transfer function models. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Climatology. DOI: 10.1007/s00704-016-1828-4.
Tim, Nele and Guenni, L. 2015. Oceanic influence on precipitation in Venezuela under current and future climates. Journal of Climate Dynamics. DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2832-6.