Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Sergio Castellanos
Area of Impact: equitable energy transitions
Research: modeling pollutant dispersion to create an equity lens for clean energy modeling.
Sarah is researching pollutant dispersion modeling to identify exposed communities and create an equity tool for electric grid decarbonization planning. She is also interning with Austin Water where she works on wastewater utility planning and coordinating with Project Connect, Austin's light rail project. She received her Bachelors in Environmental Engineering from UT Austin and enjoys biking around the city and taking her dogs on walks.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Mary Jo Kirisits
Area of Impact: drinking water; public health
Research: microbial water quality within drinking water distribution systems
Danielle is studying microbial water quality within drinking water distribution systems across the US. She particularly focuses on the relationship within Legionella pneumophila, an opportunistic human pathogen, and free-living amoebae. Danielle earned her BS in Environmental and Ecological Engineering with a Spanish minor from Purdue University in 2021.
Materials Science and Engineering
Advisor: Brian Korgel
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: novel membranes for desalination and improved filtration process
Raul is researching the incorporation of inorganic materials such as silicon nanowires into polymeric membranes to improve their filtration mechanisms. He hopes this research can contribute to solving current water filtration problems. He earned his BBA in Accounting, BS in Mechanical Engineering, and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: groundwater pollution mediation, environmental chemistry
Tim is evaluating field-screening techniques and modeling approaches for quantifying natural degradation of trichloroethylene (TCE), a common industrial contaminant in groundwater aquifers. His research aims to provide regulators and engineers with accessible methods for predicting the rate of contaminant attenuation in natural systems.He received a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland, and previously worked as an environmental consultant providing environmental site assessment and remediation services.
Chemistry Department
Advisor: Simon Humphrey, Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water remediation
Research: catalytic water treatment
A PhD student in the Chemistry Department, Carolyn’s focuses on bimetallic nanoalloys with a variety of applications, focusing on water remediation. She grew up in Northern California and received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Outside of the lab, she enjoys mushroom foraging and playing Dungeons and Dragons..
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisors: Lynn Katz, Frank Seibert
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: produced water treatment for varied reuse
Carolyn is protecting human health by investigating drinking water treatment processes to improve small water treatment systems. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisors: Paola Passalacqua, Lina Sela
Area of Impact: water resources
Research: dam construction impacts on river-floodplain processes, decision-making tools for stakeholders in agricultural industry
Sara uses hydrodynamic modeling techniques to understand how the Lower Rio Grande floodplain interacted with the Rio Grande River before and after flood control and hydroelectric dams were constructed. She hopes that through the understanding of these processes, appropriate and reliable decision making tools for vulnerable communities can be developed. Sara received her BS in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). When not coding up numerical models, she an avid birdwatcher. She also likes to read non-fiction books and enjoys listening to classical music.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Manish Kumar
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: sustainable water filtration
Sophie received her B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alabama and is interested in sustainable water filtration using natural fibers and plant-based proteins. Her research focuses on combining antimicrobial proteins from Moringa oleifera seeds with fibers like cotton and Ceiba pentandra (kapok) for disinfection and oil/water separations.
LBJ School of Public Affairs
Advisor: David Eaton
Area of Impact: municipal infrastructure, public policy
Research: water, energy and local food opportunities along the Texas border
Maria-Elena is focusing on the impact of first time water and wastewater infrastructure on health in rural Texas border communities.
Energy and Earth Resources
Advisor: Michael Young
Area of Impact: energy transition, natural resource management
Research: environmental impacts of energy transition, life cycle assessment
Dan is currently studying the tradeoffs between climate change mitigation, environmental stewardship, and the development of reliable and affordable electricity. He hopes to contribute to the creation of information and tools that encourage innovation and adoption, and inform decision-makers. Before coming to UT Austin, Dan received B.S. degrees in geological engineering and geology & geophysics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked on water resources issues both at home and abroad. In his free time, he enjoys going to concerts, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Lina Sela
Area of Impact: optimization in energy-water systems
Research: desalination management
Greg is analyzing the tradeoffs between off-grid energy sources for groundwater extraction in agricultural irrigation. He is also exploring the ways in which water sourced from desalination plants can be utilized to meet requirements from energy and agricultural sectors while ensuring the clean, drinkable water continues to flow during extreme conditions. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University. In his free time, Greg enjoys cooking and reading.
Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Keith Keitz, Manish Kumar
Areas of Impact: biotechnology, membranes
Research: sustainable water filters
Brielle is studying seed proteins from the Moringa tree to develop locally sourced, low-cost, sustainable water filters in equatorial regions where clean water is lacking. She earned a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Cornell University.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Advisor: Benjamin Leibowicz
Area of Impact: energy, water, transportation, infrastructure
Research: sustainable urban design
Erick is discovering how to build and operate affordable, sustainable and innovative communities in urban and rural environments.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: groundwater pollution remediation, environmental reactive transport
Kade is quantifying the impact of naturally occurring reactions that reduce concentrations of chlorinated solvents, a persistent contaminant, in groundwater aquifers. He hopes to contribute to models that seek to estimate time to cleanup for many of the aquifers impacted by chlorinated solvents. Before coming to UT Austin, Kade received his B.S in Environmental Engineering from the University of Minnesota and worked as an engineer cleaning oil-contaminated aquifers throughout the country. Outside of lab, Kade enjoys paddle boarding on Lake Austin and hanging out with his fellow graduate students.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Kasey Faust
Area of Impact: sociotechnical systems
Research: water utility access in remote communities
Michaela earned a BS in civil engineering and a Bachelor of Management from Bucknell University. She then worked in construction management for about five years, where she gained hands-on experience managing multi-family, commercial, and industrial projects. Michaela is deeply interested in the intersection of social systems and the built environment and is committed to conducting research that centers equity and justice in communities.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water treatment, drinking water treatment
Research: reactor design for drinking water treatment
Kuan-Lin devotes himself to seeking solutions to minimize the pollution on the environment and to benefit both the environment and human health. He earned BS and MS in environmental engineering from National Cheng Kung University, focusing on air pollutants control and air quality modeling. He is currently working with the Werth Group on electrocatalytic treatment for nitrate reduction in drinking water and designing a novel reactor for the water treatment.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisors: Zoltan Nagy, Junfeng Jiao
Sam's career ambition is to improve mobility so that it is efficient, equitable and sustainable.She is currently pursuing a Master's in Civil Engineering for Sustainable Systems, focusing on transportation systems.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Advisor: Benjamin Leibowicz
Area of Impact: operations research, infrastructure resilience
Research: energy systems modeling, network optimization, infrastructure resilience
Le (Helen) is interested in applying energy systems modeling techniques and operations research methodologies to study the decarbonization policies and infrastructure resilience under disasters. She received the M.S. in Operations Research from Georgia Tech and B.Eng. in Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Advisors: Benjamin Leibowicz, Lina Sela
Area of Impact: sustainability, operations research
Research: optimizing the design and operation of integrated, distributed energy and water systems
Rachel is advancing sustainable infrastructure systems that will achieve better energy and environmental performance and improve the food, energy, water nexus.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisors: Navid Saleh, Mary Jo Kirisits
Area of Impact: water quality and climate change
Research: permafrost response to global warming and impact on water quality in select Native Alaskan communities
Mathieu earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he researched nanoparticle synthesis for novel therapeutics and bioprocess computational simulation. Transitioning to Environmental Engineering at UT Austin, he will intertwine his passions for community building and social change through people-centered science in partnership with marginalized communities. Mathieu's current project investigates the effects of climate change on permafrost - the research team hopes to understand what is released from permafrost as it thaws and the corresponding impact on water quality for Native Alaskans.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Lynn Katz
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: characterization of polymer membrane adsorption and fouling
Lauren is a researcher at the Center for Materials for Water and Energy Systems who is developing membrane technology to treat water from energy systems to reduce industrial pollution and enable water reuse.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisors: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: groundwater pollution remediation, redox-active bacteria
Emma is studying the roles that dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria (DMBR) play in the reduction of iron at water-sediment interfaces. She is investigating the production and regulation of extracellular electron shuttles in DMBR metabolism and the potential for subsequent pollutant degradation.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Lynn Katz
Area of Impact: water treatment
Research: resource recovery
Tulasi is currently researching the recovery of Selenium as a resource from biological treatment of selenium laden wastewater. She graduated from BITS Pilani KK Birla, Goa Campus in India with a double major in chemistry and chemical engineering and received her masters degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Alex Hanson
Area of Impact: power electronics
Research: renewable energy system, microgrid grid
Michael is working with UT’s Power Electronics Research Group to accelerate renewable energy adoption through projects that support energy storage and a distributed grid. He earned a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University. In his free time he enjoys climbing and cooking.
Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Brian Korgel
Area of Impact: nanomaterials
Research: silicon nanocrystals
Ben is a third-year graduate researcher who is working with silicon nanocrystals, a photoactive material with environmental and biological compatibility. He is currently working with the Korgel group on silicon nanocrystal passivation and gelation to expand the functionality of the silicon nanocrystals. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Kasey Faust
Area of Impact: sustainable systems
Research: sustainable implementation of decentralized water treatment systems
Miriam received her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Louisiana State University and her M.S. in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering from UT Austin. Her current research project focuses on increasing the legitimacy of decentralized water treatment systems in developing communities. She is interested in the intersection of environmental engineering and public policy.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: novel materials for water treatment
Research: catalytic treatment of nitrate with ammonia recovery
Jacob is a graduate researcher at the Center for Water and Environment who is addressing pollutants in drinking water and investigating novel ways to manage agricultural wastes for resource recovery. He grew up in a small town in North Carolina and received a B.S. in both Chemistry and Mathematics from Wingate University. In May 2019, he received his Master’s in Civil Engineering while working with Dr. Charlie Werth and Dr. Simon Humphrey in the UT Chemistry Department.
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Charles Werth
Area of Impact: water treatment, drinking water treatment
Research: electrocatalytic treatment of nitrate
Chenxu is improving negative environmental impacts of agricultural runoff on surface and groundwater using a promising water treatment technology. He has BS in Environmental Sciences from Nanjing University and MS in Geography and Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently working with Dr. Charles Werth on reactor design for coupled electrolytic hydrogen production and nitrate removal from drinking water.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Advisor: Benjamin Leibowicz
Area of Impact: decarbonization, resilience, techno-economic assessment
Research: operations models in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies at diverse scales
In Qianru’s dissertation, she analyzed climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies at diverse scales by applying optimization, risk analysis, and techno-economic modeling frameworks. Qianru graduated in May 2021 with her Ph.D. and now works in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where she supports research on integrated planning and capacity expansion modeling. She earned a BS in Mathematics and a BS in Economics from Penn State.