Newsha received a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Irvine, a MS in Hydrology and Water Resources from the University of Arizona, and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). She was was appointed by Governor Brown to the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. Newsha is currently Director of Urban Water Policy for the Water in the West Program at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.