New Faculty:
SEAS Welcomes Kyle Shimabuku, Ph.D. to Civil Engineering More than two billion people around the world still don’t have access to safe drinking water. This fall, Kyle Shimabuku, Ph.D. joins a growing number of Gonzaga faculty who want to fix that problem. He will teach courses in environmental engineering, sustainability, and wastewater treatment as the newest Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Shimabuku completed his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and was a USEPA-STAR fellow. His PhD focused on developing lowcost, sustainable technologies to remove chemical contaminants (e.g., pesticides, hydrocarbons) from drinking water, wastewater, and storm water. Most recently, he worked as a water process engineer for Corona Environmental Consulting, LLC in the San Francisco Bay Area. “My time at Corona Environmental Consulting exposed me to a number of issues that many drinking water utilities face where there was no blueprint to solve. I am excited to develop solutions to these problems that need to be explored initially in less risk-averse environments in the lab, which will provide excellent opportunities for students to get involved in real-world challenges,” Shimabuku says. “In addition to building upon my Ph.D. research, I am excited to incorporate new research topics involving disinfection and distribution system water quality inspired by my consulting experiences.”
After receiving his B.S. in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University, he served as an aid engineer in South Sudan and then worked for the Department of Environmental and Water Resources at the City of Ventura, California. These experiences opened his eyes to water scarcity vulnerabilities around the world that he hopes to address by designing water treatment technologies that can be applied in developed and developing communities. “I believe my research has been successful in improving low-cost, sustainable technologies to remove contaminants that could increase access to safe water resources,” he says. “I hope to expand on these efforts to address growing waterrelated issues, whether that be treating new water sources, such as storm water, or controlling emerging contaminants – such as perfluorinated chemicals, which contaminated groundwater near the Fairchild Air Force Base.” Shimabuku says he is thrilled to join the thriving teacher-scholar community at Gonzaga, where the emphasis on student learning and mentoring is so important. “My ultimate goal is to develop students inside and outside of the classroom, whether through research or involvement in student/professional organizations. When I visited GU, I was very impressed with the students I met. They asked excellent questions that demonstrated their intellect and – most importantly – their curiosity and desire to learn,” he says.
SEAS 2019 | 11