Jeanne VanBriesen

Duquesne Light Company Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Bio

Jeanne M. VanBriesen is the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and the Director of the Center for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems (Water QUEST) at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineering and of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute. 

VanBriesen holds a BS in Education and a MS and PhD in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University. She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Delaware. Her research is in environmental systems, including: urban water system sustainability and the built environment water cycle, and the energy-water nexus and watershed decision making.

VanBriesen has published more than sixty scientific articles and given more than 150 professional presentations. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Colcom Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the Packard Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance. 

She has supervised twenty PhD dissertations and six MS theses. VanBriesen has served on the boards of the Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, and the Ohio River Basin Consortia for Research and Education. She recently completed service on the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board. 

VanBriesen has received numerous awards, including the 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers Margaret S. Petersen Award, the 2015 Carnegie Science Center Environmental Award, the 2013 Philip L. Dowd Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon, the 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh Chapter Professor of the Year, and the 2007 Pennsylvania Water Environment Association Professional Research Award. 

VanBriesen was a selected presenter at the National Academy of Engineering Indo-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium on Infrastructure in 2008, and an invited speaker at the National Academy of Engineering Education Symposium in 2010. She was selected as a National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecturer in 2011. 

Education

PhD 1998 - Northwestern University
MS 1993 - Northwestern University
BS 1990 - Northwestern University

Research

VanBriesen's research includes water's role in energy production, such as fracking shale gas deposits and heating and cooling power stations. She is also an expert in pathogen detection and drinking water security, as well as other urban water issues.

Research Group: EESS, AIS
Research Center: Sii, SEER, ICES, CenSCIR, CEINT

• Urban water system sustainability and the built environment water cycle
• The energy-water nexus and watershed decision making

Jeanne VanBriesen is a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of CMU's Center for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems. She discusses the water-energy nexus that is integral to understanding how fracking for natural gas impacts the environment. VanBriesen is also an expert in the area of urban water issues. 

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VanBriesen presented about water concerns related to shale gas development at the symposium celebrating the launch of the institute.