Philip Womble

I am an Assistant Professor at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Law at the University of Washington. Trained as both an attorney and a hydrologist, my research specializes in water policy, water rights, and water markets. My work integrates the biophysical and social sciences, drawing methods from water resources engineering, ecohydrology, economics, and law. My research explores how legal, policy, and management strategies can enhance the sustainability, efficiency, and equity of water systems, with recent projects focusing on environmental water markets, barriers to adaptive water rights transfers, and Native American groundwater rights in the western U.S.

Before joining the University of Washington in 2024, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University and a fellow at Stanford Law School. I earned my Ph.D. in Environment and Resources and my J.D. from Stanford University, where I was a member of the Water Resources and Hydrogeology Group. My work experience also includes positions with the Environmental Law Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and a water and natural resources law firm. I grew up in North Carolina and received my B.S. in Environmental Science from UNC-Chapel Hill.