Dr. Riungu is Director of the Sanitation Research Institute, which she established at the Meru University of Science & Technology in Kenya in 2020. She was awarded the IHE Delft Alumna award in 2022 for her contribution to education in water and sanitation. She also serves as a lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department. Her work in increasing access to sanitation has focussed on urban and peri-urban informal settlements, where she strives to apply innovative sanitation technologies to address community sanitation challenges.