Alumni

Ms. Jie Lin graduated from Dr. Wang’s team with a M.S. degree in Environmental Engneering in Spring 2018. Her thesis is titled "Statistical evaluation of the factors causing microbial growth in point-of-use filters". Jie Lin is currently working on a M.S. at Columbia University in the major of Operation Research.

Mr. Tim Kent graduated from Dr. Wang’s team with a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering in fall 2018. His thesis is titled "Mechanistic Understanding of the NOB Suppression by Free Ammonia Inhibition in Continuous Flow Aerobic Granulation Bioreactors". Tim is currently working for AECOM as as a Civil Engineer.

Ms. Parita Shah graduated with a M.S. degree in  Environmental Engineering in fall 2018, and is currently working as a Solid Waste Engineer at SCS Engineers in Washington D.C. Her research while at the lab is entitled, "Evaluation of digital PCR (dPCR) for the quantification of soil nitrogen turnover bacteria in wetland mesocosms in response to seasonal, fertilization, and plant species richness level effects". 

Amelia Flanery graduated with a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering in spring 2020, and is currently working as an Environmental Scientist at Tetra Tech in Boston, Mass. Her thesis research, which was funded under an EPA STAR project, is entitled, "Impact of Indirect Potable Reuse on Endocrine Disrupting Compounds in the Potomac River Basin." Before joining the OWML, she received her B.S. in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2017.

For his doctoral research, Ahmed split his time between Politecnico Di Torino in Italy (working with Professor Fulvio Boano) and the OWML in Manassas Virginia (working with Professor Grant). His PhD research focused on the development of mathematical models for nutrient and pollutant removal in streams (e.g., by hyporheic exchange). He defended his PhD spring 2023.

Emily Parker completed her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2022. She Her research focused on green infrastructure for urban runoff management and stormwater harvesting. She is currently working for the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water in Washington D.C. 

Ben Roston was an M.S. and PhD student in the Ecosystem Services lab with Dr. Rippy. He received his M.S. 2021 and his PhD in 2025. His research was focused on using fuzzy cognitive maps to understand opportunities for and barriers to collective management of emerging environmental challenges such as freshwater salinization.

Kaitlin Fausey was a Masters student in the Ecosystem Services lab with Dr. Rippy. She graduated in Fall, 2022 with a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research focused on urban greenspace perceptions. She was particularly interested in understanding which services green stormwater infrastructure are perceived to provide relative to other landscapes, and how an individuals educational background shapes those perceptions.

Valeria Lebron was a Masters student in the Ecosystem Services lab with Dr. Rippy. She graduated in Spring 2023, with her M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her project and report focused on characterizing stakeholder planning and implementation networks for green stormwater infrastructure and evaluating the influence of different network structures on ecosystem services provisioning.

Vishwa Shah's Ph.D. research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech revolved around environmental modeling and simulation. She received her B.E. in Civil Engineering from The M.S. University, Vadodara, India in 2013 and received her double master’s degree in Environmental Science (2016) and Environmental Engineering (2019) from New York Institute of Technology and Stevens Institute of Technology. Vishwa’s background spans on statistical and empirical methods for evaluating environmental data and model quality

Lauren Krauss's PhD work in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, involved working with Professor Rippy on the multi-functional services provided by green infrastructure. Before joining the OWML, Lauren received her B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech in 2017.

Shantanu Bhide has a Ph.D. from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his B.E. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pune, India in 2017 and his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2019. His research at the OWML is focused on modeling water quality in freshwater streams and reservoirs that serve as direct sources of drinking water, as part of the lab's National Science Foundation funded Growing Convergence Research project. He was supervised by Professor Grant.

Larissa Trejo joined the lab as a PhD student, Spring 2023. She currently works in international development, and is interested in exploring the international dimensions of freshwater salinization, as part of the lab's National Science Foundation funded Growing Convergence Research project. She was supervised by Professor Grant.