Student Spotlight: Kate Gasparro '17

Kate Gasparro is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow studying sustainable design and construction at Stanford.

In June, Kate earned her M.A. in International Policy Studies (IPS), which she pursued simultaneously with a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Kate was also a leader of the IPS student association and spoke at the IPS diploma ceremony.

Kate’s favorite class at Stanford so far is PUBLPOL 303D: Applied Econometrics for Public Policy, because it incorporated different types of statistical strategies for analyzing policy and taught students how to navigate policy implications and understanding.

During her time on the Farm, Kate traveled to India as part of the IPS spring break trip; China, through an IPS course on urban development; and she also led an engineering trip to Uganda through the Global Engineering Program.

For her IPS practicum project, Kate evaluated sustainable water service delivery in developing communities. As a former Latin America Project Leader for Engineers Without Borders, she was interested in understanding the governance conditions that can impact development projects, in addition to community and technical conditions. She found that having a community governance body, such as a water committee, and engaging with the community are important conditions to ensure sustainable water service.

Kate hopes that NGOs will be more cognizant of the ways they impact communities and help communities develop strategies for extending the life of infrastructure assets.

After graduation, Kate hopes to continue working on infrastructure delivery in developing communities and will be continuing her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford.

Congratulations Kate and best of luck!

Read Kate's master's thesis "Evaluating Causal Pathways to Sustainable WASH Infrastructure in Developing Countries" here.

Please join us in congratulating the class of 2017! As the academic year draws to a close, we are highlighting students graduating from across our 15 programs. Click here to view more student spotlights.