Ashlynn Stillwell

For More Information

• Stillwell Research Group

Education

• Ph.D. Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2013
• M.P.Aff. Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010
• M.S. Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010
• B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006

Biography

Dr. Ashlynn S. Stillwell is an Associate Professor and the Elaine F. and William J. Hall Excellence Faculty Scholar in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on creating sustainable water and energy systems in a policy-relevant context. She earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri (2006), and an M.S. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (2010), M.P.Aff in Public Affairs (2010), and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (2013) from The University of Texas at Austin. She received the National Science Foundation CAREER award and the UCOWR Early Career Award for Applied Research for her research work on the energy-water nexus. She was honored with the 2015 Girl Scouts of Central Illinois Woman of Distinction Award in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the 2018 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence, and the 2018 AEESP Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science. Dr. Stillwell has also been included on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students at Illinois. She previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors for Girl Scouts of Central Illinois and Faith in Place. 

Research Interests

• Energy, water, and carbon policy analysis / technoeconomic analysis and life-cycle assessment
• Green stormwater infrastructure
• Electricity and water resources
• Urban/rural water and energy sustainability

Selected Articles in Journals

• Jenni Nugent, Christopher M. Chini, Rebecca A.M. Peer, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2023). "Monthly Virtual Water Transfers on the U.S. Electric Grid." Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 3(3), 035006. pp. 1-18.
• Allisa G. Hastie, Victoria V. Otrubina, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2023) "Identifying Opportunities for Non-potable Water Reuse Based on Potential Supplies and Demands in the United States." ACS ES&T Water, 3(2), 311-321.
• Allisa G. Hastie, Victoria V. Otrubina, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2022) "Lack of Clarity Around Policies, Data Management, and Infrastructure May Hinder Efficient Use of Reclaimed Water Resources in the United States." ACS ES&T Water, 2(12), 2289-2296.
• Joseph L. Bongungu, Paul W. Francisco, Stacy L. Gloss, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2022) "Estimating residential hot water consumption from smart electricity meter data." Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 2(4), 045003, pp. 1-16.
• Zahra Heydari, Andrea Cominola, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2022) "Is smart water meter temporal resolution a limiting factor to residential water end-use classification? A quantitative experimental analysis." Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 2(4), 045004, pp. 1-16.
• Gabrielle M. Bethke, Reshmina William, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2022). "Rain Garden Performance as a Function of Native Soil Parameters." Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, 8(1), 04021021. pp. 1-9.
• Gabrielle M. Bethke, Abigail R. Cohen, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2021). "Disaggregating Residential Sector High-Resolution Smart Water Meter Data into Appliance End-Uses with Unsupervised Machine Learning." Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 7(3), 487-503.
• Christopher M. Chini and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2019) "The Metabolism of U.S. Cities 2.0." Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(6), pp. 1353-1362.
• Christopher M. Chini, Lucas A. Djehdian, William Naggaga Lubega, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2018) "Virtual Water Transfers of the U.S. Electric Grid." Nature Energy, 3(12), pp. 1115-1123.
• Christopher M. Chini and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2018) "The State of U.S. Urban Water: Data and the Energy-Water Nexus." Water Resources Research, 54(3), pp. 1796-1811.
• Reshmina William, Jugal Garg, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2017) "A game theory analysis of green infrastructure stormwater management policies." Water Resources Research, Special Issue on "Socio-hydrology: Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Coupled Human-Water Systems," 53(9), pp. 8003-8019.
• Christopher M. Chini, Kelsey L. Schreiber, Zachary A. Barker, and Ashlynn S. Stillwell*. (2016) "Quantifying Energy and Water Savings in the U.S. Residential Sector." Environmental Science & Technology, 50(17), pp. 9003-9012.

Professional Societies

• American Society of Civil Engineers, Environmental and Water Resources Institute; 2012-present; Past Chair of Sustainability Committee (Chair of Sustainability Committee 2016-2017); Past Chair of Environmental and Water Resources Systems Committee (Chair of Environmental and Water Resources Systems Committee 2020-2021); Member of Energy & Environment Nexus committee

Service on Department Committees

• CEE Curriculum Committee, 2017-present; (Chair 2019-present)

Service on College Committees

• AE3 Education Innovation Fellow, 2022-2025

Other Outside Service

• Faith in Place; Chair (2016-2019), Board of Directors (2013-2019)
• Girl Scouts of Central Illinois; Chair (2020-2022), Board of Directors (2015-2023), Coordinator for annual "Girl Power" STEM event at Abbott Power Plant (2015-2022), National Council Session Delegate (2020-2022)

Teaching Honors

• Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science (8/14/2018)
• Rose Award for Teaching Excellence (4/23/2018)

Research Honors

• Elaine F. and William J. Hall Excellence Faculty Scholar in Civil and Environmental Engineering (5/28/2019)
• Early Career Award for Applied Research (4/5/2019)

Public Service Honors

• Girl Scouts of the USA Thanks Badge (for outstanding performance that benefits the entire council or the entire Girl Scout movement) (4/25/2023)
• Amy L. Devine Award (for contribution to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, engineering students, and the engineering profession) (1/22/2018)