Quantifying and Designing Infrastructure for Nonstationary Flood Risks; Hydrogen-Powered Aviation: Pathways and Potential for Sustainable Flight

Executive Summary

Introduction
My technical and STS research projects both address critical environmental challenges, though they operate at different scales and within different domains. My Capstone project focuses on optimizing green infrastructure to mitigate urban flooding in Charlottesville, VA under climate uncertainty. On the other hand, my STS paper explores how hydrogen-powered aviation could offer a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel-based air travel. Though the two projects are not directly connected, they are united by a shared concern for climate resilience and sustainability. Each project tackles the question of how to adapt existing infrastructure, whether urban stormwater systems or commercial aircraft, to reduce environmental harm in a changing world. Working on both projects allowed me to engage with sustainability from both a technical optimization lens and a sociotechnical systems perspective.

Capstone Project Summary
My Capstone project, Quantifying and Designing Infrastructure for Nonstationary Flood Risks, developed a multi-objective optimization model to design green infrastructure (GI) solutions for stormwater management in the Meadow Creek watershed of Charlottesville, VA. Using the EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) in conjunction with the Rhodium multi-objective optimization framework, we evaluated various combinations of GI, such as bioretention cells, green roofs, and permeable pavement, under different climate change scenarios derived from the CMIP6 dataset. We used historical and projected precipitation patterns to simulate 100-year storm events and analyzed infrastructure performance based on three objectives: minimizing runoff, minimizing cost, and maximizing co-benefits. The model produced Pareto-optimal solutions for a range of climate futures, enabling stakeholders to choose compromise strategies depending on their priorities. The project emphasized the need for flexible, data-driven planning to increase resilience to future flood risks in urban areas.

STS Research Paper
My STS research paper, Hydrogen-Powered Aviation: Pathways and Potential for Sustainable Flight, investigates the societal and technological dynamics surrounding the development of hydrogen-powered aircraft. Using the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework, I examined how different social groups, such as airlines, environmental advocates, and aircraft manufacturers, shape and influence the trajectory of hydrogen technologies. The paper compares hydrogen combustion engines and fuel cell propulsion systems, each suited for different aircraft types, and evaluates the promise of green hydrogen as a low-emission fuel source. It also highlights barriers such as high infrastructure costs, technical limitations, and political uncertainty. A key case study of Universal Hydrogen demonstrates how financial pressures, and regulatory risk can undermine sustainability-focused startups, despite strong technological potential. The research underscores how aviation’s path to decarbonization is not purely technical, but deeply intertwined with societal values, economic interests, and political frameworks.

Concluding Reflection
Working on these two projects simultaneously enriched my understanding of sustainability as both a technical and sociotechnical challenge. The Capstone project honed my skills in computational modeling, systems thinking, and uncertainty analysis, while the STS research sharpened my ability to analyze how societal forces drive or inhibit innovation. While one project was grounded in simulation and optimization, and the other in theory and case studies, both revealed that designing for sustainability requires navigating trade-offs between cost and benefit, innovation and regulation, technical feasibility and public perception. Had I only completed one of these projects in isolation, I would have missed the opportunity to see how engineering decisions are shaped not just by data, but by the broader social and political context. Together, these projects gave me a more holistic view of what sustainable problem solving can and must look like in the real world.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Systems and Information Engineering

Technical Advisor: Julianne Quinn

STS Advisor: Bryn Elizabeth Seabrook

Technical Team Members: Lachlan R. Murphy, Simrat S. Saini, Noah A. Simsic, Petey G. von Ahn