Dr. VanBriesen received her B.S. in secondary education and chemistry from Northwestern University. She received her M.S. and Ph.D in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. VanBriesen is the Director of the Water Quality in Urban Environmental System (Water QUEST) Center at Carnegie Mellon University. She has received numerous awards including the George Tallman Ladd Award for outstanding research and professional accomplishment, the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association Professional Research Award, the Professor of the Year from the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the McGraw Hill-AEESP Award for outstanding teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science. Dr. VanBriesen’s research interests include biogeochemistry of recalcitrant organics (including chelates and PCBs), thermodynamic analysis of biological systems, and detection and quantification of pathogenic organisms in drinking water systems.