Alumni Profiles
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Maxwell E Agnew I participated in the USACE long-term training program, earning a masters degree from the University of Notre Dame with a thesis paper on surge and wave hindcasting using ADCIRC+SWAN, with special emphasis on the role of wetlands in surge and wave attenuation and incorporating a nested mesh approach to surge modeling. At the USACE New Orleans District, I work on storm surge and wave modeling of synthetic design hurricanes using ADCIRC+SWAN 2D models, establishing stage-frequency and wave-frequency curves for design of New Orleans Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) (a $15 billion project), and calculating required 100-year design elevations for HSDRRS levees and floodwalls. Major projects are the Co-located Mississippi River (MRL/HSDRRS) levees, the IHNC surge barrier, the West Closure Complex, the Seabrook Floodgate Complex, and the Lake Pontchartrain Canal Closure structures. Email: Maxwell.E.Agnew@usace.army.mil |
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Daniel Alessi After earning my undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, I briefly worked as a mudlogger on oil and gas rigs in Colorado and Wyoming and as a staff geologist for an environmental remediation firm before enrolling in the geosciences master’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I finished my doctorate in Environmental Geochemistry at Notre Dame under the direction of Professor Jeremy Fein in 2009. I then worked as a Scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. In 2013, I moved to the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor and the Encana Chair in Water Resources. I study the products of microbial uranium and chromium reduction that form during bioremediation. Email: alessi@ualberta.ca |
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David Ams Email: dams@alumni.nd.edu |
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David Michael Borrok Research Interests:low-temperature geochemistry, geomicrobiology, water quality and sustainability, and stable isotope geochemistry. Email: dborrok@louisiana.edu |
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Cheryl Ann Blain My expertise is in the application of unstructured grid models to a variety of coastal, estuarine, and river processes. Many of my developed software modeling tools, transitioned to support Navy warfighters, are aimed at handling data-deprived environments and non-expert users. Recent research efforts explore the merger of models and remotely sensed data for riverine applications, investigate coupled hydrologic, riverine and coastal ocean processes, design systematic error analyses to improve coastal forecasts, forecast surge and inundation under sea level rise conditions, and derive new coupled assimilation systems for coupled ocean-wave models. Email: cheryl.ann.blain@nrlssc.navy.mil |
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James R Breckler Project manager at Engineering Resources, Inc. with a focus on municipal infrastructure and site development. Email: jrbreckler@yahoo.com |
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Casey Dietrich I received three degrees from the University of Oklahoma before moving to Notre Dame for my Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, studying with Joannes Westerink. After leaving Notre Dame, I worked as a research associate for three years at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES) at the University of Texas at Austin. I joined the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University as an assistant professor in 2013. I have developed and validated high-resolution computational models of hurricane waves and storm surge along the Gulf coast, and these models have been used for levee design by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and for floodplain risk assessment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I have also applied these models in an operational framework to forecast storms including Hurricane Isaac (2012) as well as oil transport following the BP spill in 2010. Email: caseydietrich@gmail.com |
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David A. Fowle I am a biogeochemist who studies how microorganisms influences the cycling of trace elements and global climate. Key projects included a multiple country initiative to study climate change and geobiology in an Ancient Lake in Indonesia; and helping energy and mining companies better understand the development, environmental cleanup and exploration of their resources using biogeochemical techniques. I also run my own consulting firm which specializes in helping individuals and businesses deal with multidisciplinary problems in these same areas. Email: fowle@ku.edu |
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Drew Gorman-Lewis Email: dgormanl@uw.edu |
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Scott C. Hagen I earned my B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa (1993) and my Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame (1998). I joined the University of Central Florida in 1998 as an assistant professor and was recently promoted to professor. I have a P.E. with the State of Florida, and am a Diplomate of both Coastal and Water Resources Engineering. I am a member of the Board of Governors for the ASCE/Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute and served as Chair of the Coastal & Estuarine Hydroscience committee. In 2012 I hosted the Tenth International Conference on Hydroscience & Engineering where I was honored with an Outstanding Achievement Award for Advancement of the State-of-the-Art At the University of Central Florida I have established a research program in coastal hydroscience focusing on massively parallel, high performance computational modeling of ocean, coastal, and inland astronomical and meteorological tides and flows. We are developing geospatial data fusion techniques that use high-resolution satellite imagery to assess and improve coastal and estuarine models. My more recent efforts expand into transport and biological modeling, particularly with respect to the coastal dynamics of sea level rise. My students and I are conducting scientific research that is applied through engineering to benefit society. For example, I led a team that includes UCF graduate students working in conjunction with industry and government counterparts to develop coastal inundation models in direct support of FEMA flood plain mapping for the Florida panhandle and the Alabama coastal areas. In addition we participate on the FEMA team covering the east Florida / Georgia coasts. Output from the models that our team has and are developing will ultimately determine FEMA digital flood insurance rate maps, which will play a substantial role in defining how Florida coastal regions will be developed. Our interdisciplinary research into the hydrodynamic and ecological effects of sea level rise is helping coastal planners in the northern Gulf of Mexico and throughout the State of Florida. |
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Kelly J. Johnson My specialities include acid rock drainage, drilling oversite, pit lake modeling, mine closure and permitting. Email: kellyjjohnson@gmail.com |
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Janice Kenney I earmed a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Windsor with a minor in Chemistry. I then completed my Ph.D. in biogeochemistry with Professor Jeremy Fein in August 2010 as an Environmental Molecular Science Institute(EMSI) Graduate Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. I am currently working as a Research Engineer at Umeå Univeristy, in Sweden, having moved up from the position of Postdoc in September 2012. At the University of Windsor, I examined the magnetic susceptibility of beach and oil shale samples, extracted CO2 gas from carbonaceous rocks, studied the ecology of microbial mats from nickel mine run-off environments, examined the effects of bacteria on Fe and As-rich minerals, and studied the mineralogy of a sulphide and platinum group element deposit in Northern Canada. During my Ph.D. I specialized in the surface complexation modelling (SCM), of metal adsorption to bacteria and their exudates, based on thermodynamic theory. The projects I worked on involved investigating the binding of gold or cadmium onto common soil bacteria, and their exudates, and developing a thermodynamic model to describe the phenomena. The work from these studies was published in high quality geochemical journals. Overall, our work has answered important questions regarding how bacterial adsorption affects metal speciation and distribution in environmental systems. Currently, my post-doctoral researcher position at Umeå University has been focused on examining the mobility of organophosphates in the environment. Phosphates are essential nutrients with the seemingly paradoxical behaviour of limiting production and growth in some systems but leading to eutrophication in others. It is important to understand the mobility of these molecules in the presence of minerals and bacteria (and their exudates). Email: janicekenney@gmail.com |
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Jeff Kroon I am Bridge Product Engineer at Bentley Systems, a company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. I train engineering professionals in the use of long span bridge design and engineering software and help them to streamline their workflows from project conceptualization to design, construction, and maintenance and operations through the use of Bentley technology. Most recently I have been working with the lead design consultant on the nation's largest bridge project, the new Tappan Zee bridge in New York. Email: jkroon2@gmail.com |
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Ann Mukai Miyasato Waste Water Engineering - collection systems, pump stations, Sewer Basin Facility Planning |
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Daniel E Reimer Jr. I joined the A.C.E. program after undergraduate, and taught Chemistry and Physics at the high school level. My civil engineering degree provided excellent training, especially when I was asked to teach AP Chemistry and Physics my second year. After completing the A.C.E. program, I worked as a Structural Design Engineer with Thompson Engineering. I used RISA-3D to model structures and was involved in construction management and producing structural analyses/reports in addition to design. In May 2013 I started as a Project Engineer with Aker Solutions. I am now involved with the design, procurement, testing, and installation of umbilical cables for Oil and Gas clients such as Exxon, Chevron, B.P, and Shell. Email: danielreimerjr@gmail.com |
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Brittani Russell I like to think of myself as an atypical engineering student (although perhaps not as unusual coming from the ranks of ND grads) who will apply her technical knowledge towards projects in the developing world. I think I can blame ND Seed, a program for undergraduate students at Notre Dame where the students design, raise all funds for, and construct a footbridge for a community in need, for this aspiration. During my senior year I, along with six of my classmates, constructed a 125 meter footbridge in Nicaragua. For my masters project under Dr. Ashley Thrall I worked with the U.S. Army to re-conceptualize and optimize a floating causeway and bridging system which will be used for military and disaster relief purposes. After surviving six consecutive South Bend winters I will be moving to warmer climates as I work for Building Tomorrow in Uganda. I am serving as the Engineer in Residence to help streamline and improve the process of design and constructing schools in the rural parts of the country. Email: brussel2@alumni.nd.edu |
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Karen Saavedra Project Engineer, Utility Infrastructure Group, American Structurepoint, Inc. Email: Kcsaavedra@gmail.com |
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Michael Schubert I studied Civil and Environmental engineering and competed as a member of the varsity track and field team at Notre Dame from August 2004- May 2008. While at Notre Dame, I worked as an undergraduate research assistant for Joannes Westerink and held an internship at Christopher Burke Engineering in South Bend. In my classes, research, and internship, I developed a keen interest in hydraulics and fluid mechanics. After graduating from Notre Dame, I went onto study environmental hydraulics at the University of Iowa's IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering laboratory, from which I received my Master's degree in December 2009. In January 2010, I joined HDR Engineering in Des Moines, IA. At HDR, I specialize in performing computational hydraulic analyses (multi-dimensional, steady and unsteady, hydrodynamic and sediment transport) as part of project teams completing flood mitigation, ecosystem restoration, transportation, fish passage, and other riverine projects nationwide. Additionally, I serve as a high school track and field coach at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines. Email: michael.schubert@hdrinc.com |
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Patricia Drummey Stiegel I knew during my undergraduate days that I wanted a career that would impact the world in a positive way. I worked in Dr. Westerink's lab and spent a semester in Mexico studying engineering and working on my Spanish skills. After graduation, I served as a Water and Sanitation Volunteer with the US Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, where I designed and led the community construction of a gravity-flow water system as well as VIP latrines. I realized that I needed a Master’s Degree in order to pursue the kind of career that I wanted, and I went to UNC Chapel Hill where I did research on microbial transport in stormwater BMPs. For the past 6 years, I have worked in Raleigh, NC for Hazen and Sawyer, an environmental engineering consulting firm with a strong focus on clean water. I focus mainly on wastewater treatment plant design, water recycling, and ultraviolet disinfection. I am currently serving as Hazen and Sawyer’s Project Manager for the upgrade and expansion of the T.Z. Osborne WRF to 56 mgd. |
