People
Julie Shortridge
Dr. Shortridge is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research develops new methods for understanding long-term risks to water supply and agricultural systems. She is particularly interested in developing new approaches to support adaptation to climate change in water supply, agricultural, and coastal settings.
She holds a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley in Environmental Engineering Science and an M.S.E. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in Geography and Environmental Engineering. Prior to conducting her graduate studies, she spent six years working as an engineer focused on groundwater contamination and remediation, and as a consultant for the United Nations Environment Program on disaster preparedness.
Contact information
Department of Biological Systems Engineering
Seitz Hall, RM 205
155 Ag Quad Lane
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Email: jshortridge@vt.edu
Phone: 540-231-2797
Students
Zahra Nourali
Zahra is a Ph.D. student in Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. She is interested in Hydro- Environmental Systems Analysis and Planning using Intelligent Hydro Computing Tools and Machine Learning methods. She completed her Bachelors in Civil Engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). For her Master program in Civil Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), she focused on the optimization of multipurpose reservoir operation using a novel simulation-based optimizer namely Cellular Automata (CA). Here at Virginia Tech, Zahra is interested in the investigation of climate change and sea-level rise impacts on coastal communities. More specifically, in one project she simulates coastal communities' migration and relocation in response to sea level rise and flooding using Agent-based Modeling (ABM), and quantifies the changes in demographic characteristics under various exposure scenarios and relocation preferences. In another project, she aims to predict the agricultural losses in coastal areas due to extreme weather events by means of data-analytic approaches to investigate the important climatic drivers of crop loss.
Email: znourali at vt.edu
Suman Budhathoki
Suman is a Ph.D. student in Biological Systems Engineering department at Virginia Tech. He received his BS degree in Agricultural Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and an MS degree in Biosystems Engineering from Auburn University. For his MS work, he used X-ray CT and image analysis to quantify the 2D and 3D soil macropore characteristics in pasture and row crop fields. Prior to starting his MS degree, he spent two years working as an agricultural engineer focused on construction and design of micro irrigation systems and greenhouses in Nepal. In his PhD work he is using advanced numerical, statistical and machine learning methods to conduct hydrological signature analysis on agronomic soils for improved irrigation management.
Email: szb0153 at vt.edu
Natalie Larsson
Natalie Larsson is an M.S. student in Biological Systems Engineering. She received her B.S. in BSE with minors in green engineering and ecological cities. Her thesis research aims to understand how climate change will impact extreme weather in Appalachia and will develop visualizations and summaries to better support infrastructure and public health professionals in the region.
In addition to her studies, Natalie works for the Site and Infrastructure Development department through Virginia Tech Facilities. Through this internship, she has learned the ins and outs of managing a stormwater program, which is what she wants to do after graduation. She performs a variety of tasks, from inspections, to outreach, to storm drain placard placements; she is also certified in stormwater management and erosion and sediment control through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. She is a captain of the Concrete Canoe team at Virginia Tech, a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and drives the bus for Blacksburg Transit.
Sarah Paz
Sarah is a junior in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Virginia Tech. She is a research assistant, using R to analyze historical rainfall data. Sarah interned at Whitman Requardt & Associates during the summer of 2023 with their water resources group. She is from Ellicott City, Maryland and has a strong interest in flooding and sustainability.
Alumni
Laljeet Sangha, PhD 2022. Now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Northern Arizona University.
Katherine Quion, BS 2021. Now a Research Associate at the United States Geological Survey.
Jill Grzelak, BS 2021. Now a Process Engineer at Merck.
Momtaz Jahan, MS 2020. Now a PhD student at Virginia Tech.
Julia Reis, Postdoctoral Researcher 2017-2019. Now a data scientist with Via in New York.
Morgan McCarthy, MS 2019. Now a Hydrologist with the US Forest Service in Oregon.
Morgan DiCarlo, MS 2018. Now a PhD student at North Carolina State University.
Mitchell Paoletti, BS 2018.
Haley Kujawa, BS 2017.