People
Principle Investigator
Rebecca Neumann
Becca joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Washington in the summer of 2011. Prior to this, she was a NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University where she studied how plant roots and soil conditions modulate the amount of water moved through the landscape. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis project focused on understanding one of the major human health problems in Bangladesh: arsenic contaminated groundwater. Prior to graduate school, Rebecca worked as an environmental engineering consultant for EG&G Technical Services, and received her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and B.A. in Art and Art History from Rice University. Outside of work, Becca enjoys hiking, biking and rock climbing with her two kids and husband.
Contact: Email Phone: (206) 221-2298 Office: Wilcox 168
Graduate Students
Lara Pracht
Lara Pracht received her B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2010 at the University of Kansas. While there, she was actively involved in Engineers Without Borders, traveling abroad to Andean communities in Bolivia to work on engineering projects. Her research at UW is focused on understanding the effects of altering groundwater flow patterns on groundwater arsenic concentrations in Bangladesh. Outside of school, Lara enjoys reading, traveling, and music.
Contact: Email
Undergraduate Students
Staff
Jen Levye
Jen is the research technician for the Neumann Lab; she keeps the lab organized, and orders and maintains equipment for many of the projects in the lab. In addition to administrative tasks, she assists with research projects focusing on plant/soil interactions. Her past research experience, as part of her undergraduate degree, was in plant physiology and ecology in a tropical forest in Panama. Outside of work, Jen enjoys hiking and camping, baking, and boardgames with friends.
Former Group Members
Alex Fussell
Alex worked in the Neumann lab as an undergraduate researcher during the 2011-2012 academic year. She is now employed as an environmental engineer in a local engineering firm. Alex is an avid ultimate frisbee player and a member of the Washington women's team, Element Ultimate, and enjoys rock climbing, running and taking advantage of Seattle's rare but beautiful sunny days.