Malia is a hydrologist with the USGS, Washington Water Science Center in Tacoma, WA. She studies water usage in the US and has helped create models that estimate water usage on various temporal and spatial scales. She also has studied streamflow permanence and drought, and the effects of stormwater runoff on urban streams within the Pacific Northwest. She is interested in the effects of human interaction with the water cycle, particularly water availability and usage for the future.