Born in Niger, Dr. Maina is an associate research scientist in the Hydrological Sciences Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Previously she worked in the field of hydrology at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, Polytechnic School of Milan in Italy, and CNRS in France. Dr. Maina uses remote sensing data and mathematical models relying on supercomputers to study the effects of climate change on the sustainability of water resources to predict future needs. She is listed among the 100 most influential Africans by the New African Magazine, and she is in the Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2020 list. She received the NASA GSFC Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics Peer Award for Scientific Achievement in 2021. Dr. Maina has a Ph.D. in Hydrology, University of Strasbourg, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering, University of Strasbourg, and a B.S. in Geological Engineering, University of Fes (Morocco).

Dr. Maina uses high-performance computing and remote-sensing methods to understand the impacts of climate extremes and changes in land use and land cover on water resources.