Describe your career background and your time at UGA:
My undergraduate work was at Michigan State University. I got my Bachelors of Science in Biosystems Engineering with a focus on ecosystems engineering, and then I started looking for graduate schools; I was looking south of Michigan, and found Dr. Bledsoe at UGA. So I came on as a PhD student and was there at UGA for about six years. I got my PhD in engineering with an environment and water emphasis.
I guess broadly, my career and my research were focused on stream restoration. I was also a research professional for a few years, so I got involved in a lot of the Engineering With Nature projects with the Army Corps, and some of the hydraulic and hydrologic modeling work that we do with Savannah River Ecology Lab and on Tybee Island. Now that I’ve finished my PhD, I just started at Jacobs in Atlanta, where I’m a water resources engineer.
At Jacobs, I’m trying to kind of marry the different skills that I picked up throughout my career so far, so I’m doing a little bit of stream and wetland restoration, getting involved in their Engineering With Nature projects and putting them into practice, hoping to contribute to the design guidance that they’re helping to write, and then also doing some of the different flood studies that we’re working on here. My first significant project work has been conceptual design of Engineering With Nature solutions at a government facility in Hawaii that has important facilities susceptible to severe erosion. We are combining revegetation of native plants with stormwater measures such as rainwater capture and reuse and swales to mitigate erosion and address water supply challenges. I am also slated to work on a stream restoration project in Atlanta in the coming months.
How would you describe your work from your time at IRIS specifically?
My time at IRIS was mainly ecological engineering, natural infrastructure, and Engineering With Nature work. There was a stream restoration component, which was my PhD research, but also a project that we worked on with folks at the River Basin Center right before I was leaving. I also did some hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, helping to develop a natural infrastructure master plan for Tybee Island. And then all the Engineering With Nature work. Specific projects that come to mind are work with the N-EWN biodiversity team, water quality components for scaling up natural infrastructure, and looking at some of the water quality co-benefits of levee setbacks on the Missouri River, that Matt Chambers (Research Professional, UGA Engineering) and Rod Lammers (Postdoctoral Research Associate, UGA Engineering) are leading. And yeah, my work involved all sorts of different research projects along the spectrum, because Dr. Bledsoe would ask me, ‘Hey, does this project interest you? Because we have the funding for it, and we need somebody to work on it.’ And more often than not, I would say yes and help in whatever capacity I could.
How does that lead into what you’re doing now at Jacobs?
It’s a very logical progression, in my mind, at least. I think a lot of the experience I got during my time at IRIS has led to the opportunities I have at Jacobs. They looked at some of my experience with stream restoration and the modeling work that I’ve done, and they recognized that there’s a need in the company for someone with those sorts of skill sets, but also someone with a PhD, who spent all that time in research. It’s being willing to do the deeper dives or think more critically about some of the decisions that you’re making throughout the engineering process. Instead of just running a model and clicking the button because you’ve done it 100 times, you’re also thinking through your past experiences. I think what I did at IRIS, all the exploration I was able to do through research, the applied research projects and the different field work components during my time at IRIS, really prepared me for getting into the industry and making a positive impact on these projects.
I guess the biggest thing was that a lot of the research that we’re doing in IRIS is very applied. The projects I did with IRIS could just as easily be a project in the industry world, which I think was very helpful. Like our Tybee Island Natural Infrastructure Plan–that is something that a consulting firm would do on a day to day basis. So getting that experience, but from the research perspective, was very helpful. And I also think a lot of the topics that IRIS is focused on are very relevant in industry, and they’re cutting edge. A lot of the Engineering With Nature work that we’re doing at IRIS is very important, and it’s going to only become a bigger emphasis in industry. Having that experience at IRIS really prepared me to become an integral part of these projects in industry.
With all these projects that you’re doing, what impact are you hoping that you have? What does that impact look like in your job, now being in industry?
There are the obvious impacts of trying to address water quality issues with my projects. So of course I want to improve water quality, but I think it’s also about addressing the significant challenges of today, and heading off where these challenges are going in the future. Part of the impact I hope I have is to advance thinking and how we approach these problems. We need to be very proactive and still adaptive to get ahead of emerging issues. And we need to be able to use, or continue to use, what we’re learning on the fly and apply it to these future problems so we can both address the problems of today and have a great foundation to address the problems that will inevitably continue to pop up in the future.
What inspired you to go into this field? What do you really enjoy about it?
My inspiration for getting into environmental engineering goes back to my childhood. I was always following my dad around doing outdoorsy things, hunting, fishing, hiking in the woods. My dad was a high school science teacher. So it wasn’t just ‘hey, look over there at this tree.’ It was, ‘hey, let’s look at this tree. Let’s learn the name of it. Let’s learn what kind of animals are going to rely on it for food or habitat.’ So that was kind of ingrained in me as a child.
And then I think I was in seventh or eighth grade- my parents sent me to an engineering summer camp at Michigan State, where I did my undergrad. And I don’t remember all the details, but each of the departments in the School of Engineering did a demonstration for us. And I just remember the one for Biosystems Engineering, which was the program I ended up going into eventually, they did a little water quality demonstration. It was probably the simplest thing, like they just collected this bottle of water from the river on campus that we walked by every day this week during the summer camp. And they said, now we’re going to do an instant test for bacteria and nutrients. And for whatever reason, that just stuck with me as being so cool. Like there’s water, which we rely on for life and we interact with every day, and streams that I’ve played in growing up and you see everywhere, and there’s people out there whose job is to study this. And they get to spend time working and developing solutions, but also doing what I’ve grown up doing, being outdoors.
And so that got me on the track of environmental engineering and just in a water quality mode. I’ve just never let up on that since I guess middle school. The more I’ve learned, it’s just continued to make me more excited about the different projects that are out there and the ways that we can develop solutions for them.
I actually went into undergrad intending to do environmental engineering, just because that was more mainstream and more what I was told I wanted to do- and then I went on my official visit to Michigan State and was describing what I was interested in doing, like water quality and wetlands and streams, and the professor said, “…you want to be in biosystems engineering.” And in hindsight it’s like, ‘thanks for saving me that time!’ It was very helpful to have somebody who said, ‘Yeah, we know exactly what department you want to be in.’ And then of course, I go visit that department and find out what it’s about, and I recognize the professor who had done the demonstration from four or five years prior at that point, and it all just all just kind of clicked again.
What advice do you think you would give to the freshman in college who’s walking in saying, ‘I want to do water quality. You inspired me to do it. What am I going to do on this path?’
To a freshman in high school or college, I guess my advice is really just that you have so much freedom at that point in your life with what you can do. Take advantage of that and–it sounds cliche– but follow your passions. You have so much freedom to go explore all these different topics and there are all these resources for you at a university. And especially in IRIS. So follow your passions, but also find good mentors. I think it’s very important to recognize these different people–they could be professors, they could be technicians. They could be any sort of staff member there. They don’t even have to be a part of the university. Just find these mentors who will let you pick their brain to understand their perspective, but also realize that their perspective is not perfect, and hopefully they will continue to encourage you to think critically about it. And like I said, explore all of the different options for you as you start trying to find your career path.
Did IRIS help you find mentors?
Yeah, I definitely think so. Coming into IRIS I knew I was going to work with Dr. Bledsoe. And so I think part of my grad school search was identifying which sort of professor would be that mentor. But it’s never just one person, like the saying goes, it takes a village. It’s not just me and Dr. Bledsoe who helped me accomplish my PhD. There’s all kinds of people involved. And Dr. Bledsoe and a lot of the professors at UGA are just so interconnected, there’s just a lot of connections in terms of ‘oh, you’re interested in this, so-and-so teaches a class on it.’ And you take their class or you talk to them after class one day, or you’re going to office hours and it just- it can lead to so many different things.
What have you been most proud of during your career, at your job now or before?
When you sent the questions beforehand, this one was the toughest one for me to think about. Because I was at UGA for six years and then now I’ve been in a job in industry for a month and a half. So other than the obvious of being most proud of being able to finish a PhD, I think it’s probably just some of the less concrete or physical things so far. It’s more of the personal growth achieved. And kind of bolstered by my experiences throughout both undergrad and graduate school, just the personal growth and not just knowledge.
It was maintaining a persistence and a dedication to continue learning about these different projects, but also , remaining open minded about how much I didn’t know and being willing to reach out to people to learn more. And now in hindsight, out in industry, there’s definitely some things I’m seeing where it’s like, ‘okay, good thing I listened to Dr. Bledsoe when he told me to talk to so-and-so!’ The perspective that I gained from those conversations has really just kind of helped mold the way I think, and to look at these different water resources projects more holistically. You asked the question earlier about freshman year me? That person didn’t have a clue about how to think about wetlands and water quality and streams, because there’s so much breadth and depth to that, that I’ve picked up throughout my career so far, and I think it’s only going to continue to grow. It’s the foundation that has really been set through my time, especially at UGA with IRIS.
Contact: Daniel Buhr
Written by: Olivia Allen