Former Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

willi149@illinois.edu

Google Scholar profile

Curriculum vitae

Biography

Reshmina William is a postdoctoral research scholar in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research explores the connections between energy, green stormwater infrastructure, and urban policymaking. In particular, she is interested in characterizing the spatial optimization of green roof implementation in combined sewer networks for large urban areas.

Reshmina completed her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an undergraduate minor in Political Science. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on the incorporation of reliability into green stormwater infrastructure functionality in urban areas. Her M.S. thesis focused on the use of reliability analysis techniques to evaluate green infrastructure risk under different storm scenarios. She spent much of her time on campus as a leader of the Engineers Without Borders student chapter, and traveled in January 2014 as part of a team implementing a water distribution source for a rural community in Cameroon. She has conducted independent research for the EWB chapter on the effects of deep tap root trees on a local unconfined aquifer, and presented her research at the 2014 EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, winning first place in the student poster competition. Outside of EWB, Reshmina is passionate about environmental advocacy, classical literature, and music.

Research Topics

• Green stormwater infrastructure
• Surface water and groundwater modeling
• Systems analysis
• Infrastructure policy and planning

Publications

• R. William. (2019). The Role of Reliability in Characterizing Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Urban Areas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• R. William, P. Gardoni, and A.S. Stillwell. (2019). “Reliability-Based Approach to Investigating Long-Term Clogging in Green Stormwater Infrastructure.” Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, 5(1), 04018015.
• R. William, J. Garg, and A.S. Stillwell. (2017). “A game theory analysis of green infrastructure stormwater management policies.” Water Resources Research. 53(9), 8003-8019. Featured in editor’s highlight.
• R. William and A.S. Stillwell. (2017). “Use of Fragility Curves to Evaluate the Performance of Green Roofs.” Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment. 3(4), 04017010.
• R. William and A.B. Endres. (2017). “Bridging the Divide: Incorporating Interflow into Legal Discourse on Surface Water-Groundwater Interactions.” Ecology Law Currents. 44(1), 101-108.
• R. William, A. Goodwell, M. Richardson, P.V.V. Le, P. Kumar, and A.S. Stillwell. (2016). “An environmental cost-benefit analysis of alternative green roofing strategies.” Ecological Engineering. 95(1), 1-9.
• R. William. (2015). Reliability analysis of green roofs under different storm scenarios. M.S. thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• R. William and A.R. Schmidt. (2015). “Computer-Based Modeling of Impacts of Prunus africana on Groundwater in Northwestern Cameroon.” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. 141(12), A5015003.
• A.R. Schmidt, K. Wang, and R. William. (2014). Illinois Drainage Law Related to Highways and Adjacent Landowners. Illinois Center for Transportation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Education

• Ph.D. Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019
• M.S. Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015
• B.S. Civil Engineering, Political Science minor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014

Awards

• P.E.O. Scholar Award
• Chester P. Siess Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• CALI Excellence for the Future Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Law
• CEE Distinguished Fellowship
• Kinra Fellowship
• Knight of St. Patrick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• First Place Student Poster, 2014 EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources Congress