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Matthew F

- Research Program Mentor

PhD at University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)

Expertise

Water Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Data Analysis, Public Policy Analysis

Bio

My academic passion is to enhance public health by ensuring reliable and safe drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. In other words, I help make sure that the water you drink every day, and the water that goes down the drain, is handled property to keep communities and environment clean and safe. In my PhD, I used computer models of drinking water systems, coupled with advanced data science methods, to help manage and improve drinking water quality. I also have a passion for the policy and legal aspects of water, and worked as a policy analyst for a large water utility, and as a legal consultant to assist communities facing environmental justice challenges. Outside of work, I love spending time in nature, reading, and biking. I also took classes in improv comedy for 3 years, and performed a few times too! I'm also very close with my family and love spending time with my niece and nephew.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Improving Drinking Water Quality in Distribution Systems

You'd use computer models of real-world water systems, and analyze what improvements can be made to improve the water quality that is delivered to its residents. You'd use an industry-standard software developed by the EPA to research how the layout of the city could be changed, or the operations of the network could be improved, to better serve the town's residents. It could end in a research paper, or a mock plan to the city council documenting your excellent recommendations!

Coding skills

Python, Matlab

Teaching experience

During my time in graduate school, I was a teaching assistant (TA) for 8 different semesters in undergraduate engineering classes. I regularly assisted students with homework and preparing for exams. During 3 of those semesters, I taught a weekly 1-hour class about the basics of python programming to solve environmental challenges. I regularly received excellent feedback in the end-of-semester student evaluations, including a 4.9/5 based on feedback of 39 students for the python class. I love to help students through difficult topics and explain challenging concepts in ways that are intuitive and relatable.

Credentials

Work experience

Innovation Africa (2025 - Current)
Hydroinformatics Engineering Consultant
BlueConduit (2024 - 2025)
Product Development Consultant
Austin Water Utility (2021 - 2021)
Policy Analyst & Project Coordinator
Independent Legal Consultant (2022 - 2024)
Expert Consultant

Education

Ohio State University
BS Bachelor of Science (2015)
Environmental Engineering
University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
MPA Master of Public Administration (2021)
University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
MS Master of Science (2021)
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy (2024)
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering

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