Olivia Seward

Biography

Olivia Seward is a first year PhD student in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. She joined UC Davis in 2020, where she earned her B.S. and is currently completing her M.S. degree. Her studies and professional experience have centered on water quality and contaminant transport. She has served as a teaching assistant for the courses in fluid mechanics, groundwater systems design, and numerical methods for civil engineers. Recently, she received recognition for her poster presentation at UC Davis’s annual Society of Water and Environment Engineering Graduate Showcase. Olivia is passionate about expanding access to clean water and sanitation through engineered systems while preserving the health and ecology of natural systems.

Her current research is focused on advancing desalination brine valorization— recovering constituents from brine to offset the costs of advanced treatment. As climate change reduces the reliability of traditional water supplies, alternative water sources like brackish groundwater, seawater, and agriculture drainage have been proposed to meet the ever-growing water demand. These sources require desalination, which produces a high-salinity brine stream. Desalination plants face significant challenges due to the limited availability of affordable brine management strategies and the environmental impacts of traditional disposal methods. In the past decade, research has focused on improving advanced brine management through minimal- or zero-liquid discharge, which often combines membrane, thermal, or electrical based technologies but remains costly. Brine valorization offers a promising pathway to reduce expenses, increase water recovery, and advance the circular economy. Olivia is actively engaged in collaborations with stakeholders in the cement, chemical, and desalination industries to explore viable markets for recovered constituents.

Outside of research, Olivia loves to hike, read, and craft! She especially loves exploring Lassen, getting lost in the woods, and spending time at the lake. In Davis, her perfect day is spent biking to the farmers market and having a picnic with friends in the Arboretum.