• B.S. Civil Engineering (2006) - City University of New York (City College) 
• M.S. Civil & Environmental Engineering (2013) – University of California, Davis 
• Ph.D. Hydrologic Sciences (2018) – University of California, Davis

Prudentia (Gugu) Zikalala is a postdoctoral scholar working on the impact of climate change on almond production in California. Her major research interests are in the field of sustainable agriculture. She conducts research that focuses on management of land use systems to ensure sustainable provisioning of society’s needs for water, food, energy and fiber without compromising the environment. She has focused on diverse topics including the effects of climate variability on crop yields; agricultural impacts on nitrate loading and salinization of surface and ground water; land use impacts on groundwater depletion; impacts of land use change on snow water equivalent and remediation of contaminated groundwater.  Her research efforts focus on the representation of the complex coupled human-natural systems, where she applies quantitative approaches to understand the effects of agricultural systems on the management of soil, water and air resources.