Courtney Hill

Courtney Hill is completing her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Virginia as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Jefferson Fellow. Her doctoral research focuses on low-cost ways to treat water in rural South Africa. Specifically, her research investigates the relationship between human health and access to silver embedded ceramics as well as other mechanisms by which silver can be used to treat water in low income areas. Courtney co-founded the Science Policy Initiative at U.Va., the University of Virginia’s first science policy organization, to empower science and engineering students to be more informed and involved in science policy. She has also worked for UVA CHARGE, coordinating programs for University of Virginia faculty search committees that reduce implicit bias in promotion policies and selection committees. During the spring of 2018, Courtney served as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Science through the InterAcademy Partnership, an organization that brings academies of science from all over the world together to make scientific recommendations to international bodies like the UN. Prior to her graduate studies, Courtney taught English at a magnet high school in South Korea as a Fulbright Scholar. She holds a B.S. in civil engineering at the University of Arkansas.

Courtney was recently awarded Outstanding Presentation at the first UVA Global Water Initiative. See the Q&A about her research.