Ashlynn Stillwell: Engineering that Speaks to People
Doctoral student Ashlynn Stillwell is using engineering expertise to influence policy makers in the Texas Legislature.
Now, more than ever, the expertise of engineers is needed to guide public policy on technical matters involving energy, environment, infrastructure, and national security. Influencing decision makers is a critical role for civil engineers since they have the ability to bring in-depth knowledge to the table. Recent graduate and doctoral student Ashlynn Stillwell (MSE/MPAff 2010) recognizes this need and how her research can change the way government makes future decisions about water use.
At University of Texas at Austin, Ashlynn participated in the dual-degree program offered by The Cockrell School of Engineering and The LBJ School of Public Affairs, which prepares students to be technical leaders who address policy issues. Through this program, students can earn a dual Master of Science in Engineering and Master of Public Affairs degree and are prepared for careers at any level of government and in public policy-related areas of the
engineering profession.
Her research focuses on improving water and energy resource management. She is helping policy makers find opportunities to be more efficient and sustainable in the use of both resources through joint assessment and planning.
For the dual-degree program, her research focused on the nexus of energy and water and maintaining a stable supply of both. She concentrated on integrated environmental management: the connection between water used for cooling thermoelectric power plants and mining, growing, and refining liquid fuels; and energy used for water and wastewater collection, treatment, disinfection, distribution, and heating.
A portion of her earlier work consisted of writing a report aimed at informing the Texas Legislature about the current status and possible future use of energy and water resources. She also completed case studies to examine the effects of possible policy decisions regarding energy and water in Texas (e.g. How much energy could we save from widespread water conservation or reuse? Or, how much energy consumption is associated with using desalination as a drinking water supply?)
Ashlynn is currently working to complete her Ph.D. and her recent work includes expanding on those case studies and developing a model of water use at Texas power plants using different cooling technologies.
Interest in this area developed for her as an undergraduate. While studying chemical engineering at the University of Missouri, she decided to focus on the environmental aspects of her major. Before returning to graduate school, she worked full-time at Burns & McDonnell, designing air pollution control and water and wastewater treatment systems for coal-fired power plants. As she became increasingly intrigued by interdisciplinary work and seeing science in action, the engineering/public affairs master’s program seemed tailor made for her blossoming career goals.
Ashlynn is also a volunteer Girl Scout leader for young women who are refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I got the opportunity to take classes in both departments and combine my education into engineering that speaks to people”, she says. “I appreciate the flexibility of interdisciplinary work. The ‘real world’ is interdisciplinary and it’s good for UT to encourage research work that bridges disciplines.”
Ashlynn is pleased that her CAEE professors are encouraging and understanding while simultaneously holding high expectations for students. Before graduating in spring 2010, she was co-advised by CAEE Professor Desmond Lawler and mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Michael Webber. Under their tutelage, she was awarded a coveted National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2009 for her work on energy and water. Specifically, she quantified and qualitatively analyzed the amount of water that Texas uses for water generation as well as the amount of electricity used for water and wastewater systems. She also expanded upon this work to include biofuels, analyzing its water use and possible negative impacts on water quality.
Life outside of school has kept Ashlynn active as well. She enjoys triathlons, photography, gardening, and watching the Kansas City Royals from her home state play baseball. Additionally, she is a volunteer Girl Scout leader for a troop of 6th-11th grade girls that are political refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is on the worship committee of her church.
Her ambition is to work as a faculty member at a university where she will teach students to analyze issues using engineering knowledge. “My experience at UT with the dual master’s degree program has inspired me to teach at the intersection of policy and engineering,” she says, “to enable students to develop robust engineering solutions that also make sense in a policy and economic context.”