Stormwater management can be a dirty job. Jaime Schussler, doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, feels like she was born to do it.

“I grew up in West Virginia and my parents would always take us backpacking, no matter what the weather was,” Schussler said. “I’ve just always felt a strong connection to water, particularly stormwater.”

No wonder Auburn feels like home.

“One of the main reasons I came to Auburn is for the one-of-a-kind resources, specifically the Construction Stormwater Studio at Auburn’s Stormwater Research Facility,” Schussler said. “There’s really no other facility like this in the country.”

The Stormwater Research Facility (formerly the Erosion and Sediment Control Testing Facility) is dedicated to producing innovative and practical solutions for stormwater management. The facility features several rainfall simulators, channelized and sheet flow apparatuses and two large-scale sediment basins that allow controlled evaluations of various water treatments and configurations employed to mitigate construction site pollution and soil displacement.

“I really enjoy the extension and outreach aspects of what we do,” Schussler said.

“Auburn allows me to bridge the gap between maybe higher-level research and field practicality, to implement this research in the real world and put theory into practice to help our nation and the world,” she added.