Hello, my name is Allisa and I am currently a PhD Candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, working with Dr. Khalid Osman. My current work combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to identify challenges and develop solutions for water and wastewater systems in vulnerable U.S. communities. This work has fostered partnerships with community organizations and academic institutions nationwide, allowing me to leverage my technical expertise while continuously learning from the communities I engage with.

I anticipate completing my PhD in mid-2026 and am currently considering academic, industry, and policy positions for the next stage of my career.

Previous Work:

I completed a B.S. (2020) and M.S. (2022) in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign working under Dr. Ashlynn Stillwell. During my time in Illinois I also completed an undergradute minor in Environmental Economics and Law. My undergraduate research focused on analyzing the urban water-energy nexus using multi-resolution data combined from multiple sources. This work specifically utilized billing and utility data from a mid-sized midwestern city and was published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology special edition on Data Innovation in Industrial Ecology. You can view that work at this link.

During my Master’s program I shifted my focus to non-potable water reuse in the U.S. exploring both technical and policy aspects. Using publically available data on wastewater treatment plans and industrial and agricultural water use, I conducted a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis to identify opportunities for non-potable reuse based on current state-level policy and in situ wastewater treatment technologies. That work made up the bulk of my thesis and is published here in ES&T Water, and the data from that project are shared here. A key component of that work was a survey of existing state-level water reuse policies, and what began as a side-project blossomed into a much larger qualitative and quantitative policy analysis, also published in ES&T Water at this link.

Ongoing Projects:

As a PhD student I am working on several projects under the mentorship of my advisor, Dr. Khalid Osman. I consider organizational factors, environmental stressors, and social inequities that shape drinking water and sewer services in rural and urban contexts. This work has been done in close partnership with community based organizations. I have been working closely with Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto examining water affordability, tap water quality, and distrust in the Bay Area Community of East Palo Alto. We have also been assessing similar issues, in parallel, in the City of Detroit working with We the People of Detroit, especially with youth leaders in the community. I have also been fortunate to partner with the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ) in their ongoing work to combat sanitation inequities in Lowndes County, Alabama. You can find a pre-print of our paper here. I also have an interest in drinking water consolidations and am finalizing a project assessing the effectiveness of consolidations in advancing the Human Right to Water in California.

You can view my CV HERE and contact me at ahastie2 AT stanford.edu or find me on LinkedIn