Kate Kusiak Galvin Receives CoE Staff Excellence Award

Congratulations to CEE Senior Project Manager Kate Kusiak Galvin, who will receive a CoE Staff Excellence Award on May 25. To be considered for this honor, a staff member must be nominated and receive six letters in support of the nomination from other department members.

Branko Kerkez, CEE Arthur Thurnau Associate Professor, nominated Kusiak Galvin for the award. “Kate officially serves in the role of a project manager in our research groups, but her impact extends well beyond the dues expected of her title,” he said “Our group works closely with communities across the state. Kate has been instrumental in managing sensor deployments and has done an excellent job of mentoring students. Her technical expertise and project management skills are unmatched, and she has a proven track record of guiding research projects to completion on time, within budget and to a high standard.”

Her ongoing efforts support her team’s research initiatives. “In the summer of 2022, Kate oversaw a massive deployment of stormwater sensors across the state, working with local stakeholders to permit, scope, and deploy water level sensors that now underpin decision-making related to flooding and water quality. Simply put, we could not have accomplished this without her effort and leadership,” said Prof. Kerkez.

As a Senior Project Manager, Kate provides management leadership for both the Digital Water Lab and the Wigginton Research Group. In the past, she also worked closely with the Love Research Group.  She works with faculty, students, staff, and external stakeholders and partners to develop, implement, manage and communicate research projects and initiatives. Much of her work focuses on community engagement, partnership building and improvement of processes and systems that allow UM scholars to focus on research and knowledge generation. “Kate has been instrumental in our virus-related projects, especially our COVID-19 wastewater monitoring work,” said CEE Associate Professor Krista Wigginton. “She helps coordinate between the large U-M team that spans multiple departments, as well as the wastewater treatment plants and the public health representatives.” 

Prior to joining UM, Kate served for six years as the Executive Director for the Urban Center for Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Kate has also worked for Research Development Support at UChicago and worked at a nonprofit under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative, where she planned and managed trainings in multiple countries through Africa and South America.

The nomination form and letters in support of Kusiak Galvin also cited her passion for mentoring and her dedication to the CoE’s People-First Engineering mission and the CEE mission of Engineers in Service to Society. Congratulations again to Kate Kusiak Galvin on receiving this honor!