PhD Students
Daniel Butcher is a PhD student in Construction Engineering and Project Management at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned his M.S. from the same program and his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy.
Dan’s research addresses critical infrastructure challenges in remote Alaskan communities, where traditional water delivery systems are often impractical. His work focuses on hauled water systems, examining how misalignment between formal responsibilities and stakeholder perceptions leads to service failures and cascading economic impacts. He is developing frameworks to improve service reliability and equity in water access for rural communities.
In parallel, Dan is pioneering the application of Gaussian splatting technology to create interactive digital twins of Arctic infrastructure. This innovative approach combines automated semantic tagging with physics-based simulations to predict how climate change—particularly freeze-thaw cycles—will impact critical infrastructure. By integrating community observations with advanced 3D visualization and sensor data, his work provides decision-makers with powerful tools for proactive infrastructure planning. This research not only supports community resilience but also establishes scalable frameworks applicable to remote regions worldwide facing similar climate adaptation challenges.
Meredith Brown is a PhD student in Sustainable Systems Engineering. She earned her Master’s in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Rice University in Houston.
Research interests: critical infrastructure decline due to climate change. Her current research project focuses on sociotechnical barriers to successful infrastructural adaptation and accelerating erosion in coastal populations in rural Alaska and its relationship to critical infrastructure and social vulnerability.
Ana Lacau is a PhD student in Civil Engineering. She earned her Master’s in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Her research examines infrastructure systems in rural Alaska, where challenges of remoteness, climate, and governance shape how communities access and maintain essential services. Ana’s current projects investigate how local knowledge and lived experience can be integrated into infrastructure planning and decision-making. Through community interviews, semi-cognitive mapping, and computational narrative analysis, her work explores how residents interpret and respond to infrastructure disruptions and how these insights can guide more resilient infrastructure policy.
Research Interests: integrating community knowledge in infrastructure planning, infrastructure interdependencies, semantic-linking, computational narrative analysis, and rural resilience.
Masters Students
Hannah Choi is a Master’s student in Construction Engineering and Project Management. She got her Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering at the United States Air Force Academy.
Erin McDuffie is a Master’s student in the Environmental and Water Resources Program. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering with a Minor in Global Development from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Research Interests: Extreme weather events like coastal flooding and inland flash flooding. Her current research project focuses on flash flooding and how environmental conditions, built infrastructure, and warning system communication influences decision-making around emergency planning and response across rural and urban communities in Central Texas.
Undergraduate Students
Tommy Wan is a senior Civil Engineering, Government, and Plan II student at the University of Texas at Austin. He is interested in the intersection of engineering and policy, public involvement in infrastructure decisions, and community development in Southwest Houston.
Policy & Research Interests: Infrastructure & Capital Improvement, Community Development, Urban Planning, Water Infrastructure and Waste Water Rehabilitation, Transportation, Aviation & Space, Climate in Resilient Systems, and Texas Energy.
Group Alumni
PhD Students
| Tiedmann, Helena (co-supervised with Dr. Lina Sela) | Summer 2023 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Exploring Multi-level Interactions between Water Infrastructure Systems and Population Dynamics Placement post-graduation: J. Philip Keillor Wisconsin Coastal Management-Sea Grant Fellow |
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| Yang, Euijin | Spring 2023 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Water Infrastructure Resilience in the Face of Extreme Events Placement post-graduation: Assistant Professor, Sam Houston State Univ. |
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| Osman, Khalid K. | Summer 2022 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| The Operationalization of Equity in the Provision of Water Infrastructure Services Placement post-graduation: Assistant Professor, Stanford Univ. |
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| Spearing, Lauryn | Summer 2021 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| The Cascading Impacts of Disasters: Understanding how Disaster-Induced Population Changes Impact Water Infrastructure Systems and the Built Environment Placement post-graduation: Assistant Professor, Univ. of Illinois Chicago |
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| Bakchan, Amal | Summer 2021 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Integrated Approaches for Understanding the Operating Environments of Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Systems in times of Population Dynamics Placement post-graduation: Post-doc, Univ. of South Alabama |
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| Abel, Kelsey | Summer 2021 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Modeling Complex Human Systems: Applying Hybrid Methodologies to Simulate and Disrupt Food Inaccessibility and Cascading Impacts Placement post-graduation: Post-doc, Sandia National Labs |
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| Araya, Felipe | Summer 2020 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Understanding hosting communities as a stakeholder in the provision of urban infrastructure to displaced populations Placement post-graduation: Assistant Professor, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María |
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| Faure, Julie | Fall 2019 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Adapting housing and water sector infrastructure to population dynamics Placement post-graduation: Sustainability engineer, Austin Water Utility |
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Master’s Students
| Thesis | |||
| Kim, Kyudong | Summer 2022 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Moral Sensitivity and Effects of Ethics Education Placement post-graduation: PhD Student, Univ. of Texas at Austin |
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| La Bissoniere, Bryan | Spring 2022 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Evaluating Strategies, Opportunities, and Tensions for Implementing Green Stormwater Infrastructure at the Site Scale Placement post-graduation: Austin Water Utility |
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| LaPatin, Michaela | Fall 2021 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Engineering in a Crisis: Observing Students’ Perceived Roles of Engineers During Pandemics and Natural Disasters Placement post-graduation: PhD Student, Univ. of Texas at Austin |
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| Tariq, Miriam | Fall 2021 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Assessing the Impact of Water Contamination Events and Socio-Demographic Drivers on the Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Quality Placement post-graduation: PhD Student, Univ. of Texas at Austin |
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| Tiedmann, Helena1 (co-supervised with Dr. Lina Sela) | Spring 2021 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Modeling in a Crisis: Overcoming the Water Sector’s Data Struggles to Realize the Potential of Hydraulic Models Placement post-graduation: PhD Student, Univ. of Texas at Austin |
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| Brown, Meredith | Fall 2020 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Declining Household Plumbing in Certain Alaskan Census-Designated and Incorporated Places Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Butcher, Daniel | Fall 2020 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Understanding Multidimensional Aspects of Public Trust in the Water Infrastructure within US Shrinking Cities Placement post-graduation: U.S. Air Force |
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| Arnold, Stephanie | Summer 2020 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Operating at the intersection of social, engineered, and natural systems: Assessing hydrologic impacts of green stormwater infrastructure based on stated rates of adoption Current placement: City of Austin, Watershed Protection Department |
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| Rose, Heather1 (co-supervised with Dr. Michael Webber) | Summer 2020 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| A study of the interdependency of hydroponic wastewater quality and the energy and costs for onsite treatment Placement post-graduation: Texas Water Development Board |
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| Ibarra, Victoria | Spring 2020 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Can we measure equitable access at the intersection of social and natural systems? A look at the spatial and social distribution of urban parks Placement post-graduation: : Bureau of Land Management |
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| Ribeiro Neto, Neuton1 (co-supervised with Dr. Carlos Caldas) | Spring 2020 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Identification of strategies to overcome barriers for the implementation of advanced work packaging Placement post-graduation: Verum Partners |
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| Spearing, Lauryn | Fall 2019 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Determining multi-level drivers of perceiving undesirable taste and odor in tap water: A joint modeling approach Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Agbim, Chinelo | Summer 2019 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Residential electricity access: Objective versus subjective measures of energy poverty in Texas Placement post-graduation: Energy Acuity |
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| Choi, Seogjae1 (co-supervised with Dr. John Borcherding) | Fall 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Organizational fit and turnover in the construction industry: Exploring the impact of job characteristics among junior professionals Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Guerra, Beatriz1 (co-supervised with Dr. Fernanda Leite) | Summer 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| BIM-based construction waste estimation algorithms for institutional projects Placement post-graduation: Autodesk |
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| Osman, Khalid | Summer 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Temporal dynamics of willingness to pay for alternatives that increase the reliability of water and wastewater service Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Guerra Uribe, Monica | Spring 2018 | EWRE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Policy- driven water sector and energy dependencies in Texas border colonias Placement post-graduation: Texas Organizing Project Development Department |
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| Castaneda, Jorden | Fall 2017 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Analyses of temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent construction standards on expeditionary US air bases Placement post-graduation: U.S. Air Force |
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| Faure, Julie | Spring 2017 | EWRE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Rapid population increase and urban housing systems: Legitimization of centralized emergency accommodations for displaced persons Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Yang, Euijin | Fall 2016 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| Temporal dynamics of public perceptions toward water infrastructure in Us shrinking cities before and after the Flint Water Crisis Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin |
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| Abbott, Kristin Whitley1 (co-supervised with Dr. Carey King) | Spring 2016 | EER | Univ. of Texas at Austin |
| At risk wastewater pipeline identification due to flooding Placement post-graduation: Texas Public Utility Commission |
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Department Reports:
| Ortuno, Cristian | Sum 2023 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: Freese and Nichols | |||||
| Thompson, Peter | Sum 2019 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: U.S. Army | |||||
| Abel, Kelsey | Fall 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: PhD Student at UT-Austin | |||||
| Albano, Amanda | Fall 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: Bohler Engineering | |||||
| Piner, Rachel1 (co-supervised with Dr. Lina Sela) | Fall 2018 | EWRE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: K Friese + Associates | |||||
| Hall, Derek Blake | Sum 2018 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: U.S. Navy | |||||
| Gholson, Allice | Fall 2017 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: U.S. Coast Guard | |||||
| Eldred, Dan | Sum 2017 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: U.S. Navy | |||||
| Woodward, Billy Dewayne | Spring 2017 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: U.S. Navy | |||||
| Iyer, Akshaya Lalitha | Fall 2016 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: Peritia Partners | |||||
| Batista, Jonathan Alan | Fall 2016 | EWRE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: Riviera Beach Utility Special District | |||||
| Prakash, Raghav | Spring 2016 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: AGS, Inc | |||||
| Alkayali Alalam, Sara | Spring 2016 | CE | Univ. of Texas at Austin | ||
| Placement post-graduation: Deloitte Consulting | |||||