Dr. Julie Shortridge

FACULTY AFFILIATE   |   Global Change Center

Biological Systems Engineering

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(540) 231-2797  •  jshortridge@vt.edu

Dr. Shortridge is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on making water resource systems more sustainable, robust, and resilient through the use of systems engineering methodologies, such as risk and decision analysis, machine learning, and statistical modeling. Management of water scarcity and pollution generally relies heavily on engineered infrastructure that can store, transfer, and treat water. However, effective design and management of this infrastructure demands that we account for the natural, ecological, and social systems in which it resides. Dr. Shortridge’s work is aimed at understanding the interactions between different components of coupled water resource systems and developing methodologies for infrastructure planning that can account for these complexities.

Dr. Shortridge is also interested in refining traditional methods for risk assessment and management so that they are better suited to emerging, “wicked” challenges such as climate change, invasive species, and emerging diseases. 

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.