Jessica Besnier
PhD Candidate-Hydrologist-Environmental Engineer​
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January- March 2023
NASA DEVLOP, Team Member
NASA DEVELOP- UVA Pop-Up Project: InVEST Urban Flooding
I worked on a team with one other student over a project period of 10 weeks to improve the InVEST urban flooding model. Throughout this term, we used Python API to be able to integrate grided precipitation data into the model. Our team completed deliverables every week, presented our work at NASA Goddard and both got nominated for DEVELOPer of the term.
September 2019- May 2021
JMU, Team Member
Building Latrines in Tanzania Capstone Project
I'm on a capstone team of nine people and we are working on solving the problem of bacterial contamination of the water supply in Ifakara, Tanzania. Our team meets one to two times a week during the school year to move forward in our project. Our team has been collaborating with stakeholders to solve this global engineering problem.
August 2018- May 2019
JMU, Project Manager
Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) Project
During my sophomore year of undergrad, I was project manager of a group of nine of my peers. As a team, we built a HPV for a professor who has cerebral palsy. We interviewed him, created requirements, user testing, fabricating, and created multiple prototypes for the HPV. In the end, we provided a HPV for the professor. As the project manager, I organized and managed the team in order to bring everyone's talents to the surface. I learned how to work with diverse people and more about myself.
September 2018-Current
Private Tutor
Private Tutoring
I tutor and have tutored college and high school in Chemistry, geology, Calculus, Physics, SAT math and Spanish both in person and over zoom.
June 2022-August 2022
Earth Science Intern
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
During this internship, I worked on a project that utilized machiene learning to predict reservoir operation throughout Brazil. I leverged connections, built upon previous knowledge, and increased my understanding of the mission and goals of NASA.
May 2020-August 2020
Operations Intern
Schreiber Foods
I lead and managed a project dealing with wastewater to control the pH, total suspended solids, total flow, and foreign materials that entered the water. I also created and implemented solutions into the plant to improve these metrics. Over the span of the internship, I calculated the total cost of product lost as product travels from the receiving trucks out to the packaging floor for both cream cheese and yogurt production.
June 2019- July 2019
Engineering Intern
Be More 3D
During my summer abroad in Spain, I had an internship in Valencia with a 3D printing company. I researched market trends and worked to align Be More's strategy to be a competitive contender. I also helped run tests of the concrete 3D printer and designed and 3D printed products. Along with two other interns, we designed and improved parts for the concrete 3D printer.
January 2022-January 2023
Vice President - Civil Engineering
Engineering Systems and Environemnt Graduate Student Council at the University of Virginia
The ESE-GSC works to create a welcoming and encourging space for graduate students to meet eachother and get to know the faculty. We have biweekly meetings, host social events, and advocate on behalf of the students to the faculty.
March 2020-March 2021
Student in the Madison Engineering Leadership Development Program
Madison Engineering Leadership Development Program at James Madison University, Department of Engineering
I Participated in a year long leadership development program to learn, improve, and implement leadership skills. During the Fall semester, I was a undergraduate teaching assistant for Engineering 101, a first semester engineering class for freshman. As a teaching assistant, I aided first-years in navigating their first semester at JMU.
July 2021- Current
Graduate Student Researcher
University of Virginia, Department of Engineering Systems and Environment
I am researching droughts and floods in La Plata River Basin using remote sensing to model, analyze, and predict natural hazards. I am also researching drought in the Mekong River Basin as well as utilizing machiene learning to predict reservoir operation.
June 2020-April 2021
Honors Thesis Research and Writing
James Madison University Honors College
I researched and wrote a thesis on The Correlation between Poverty, Water Quality, Community Health, and Education in Guatemala and Tanzania. I utilized online resources as well as faculty and staff to collect information on these metrics. I presented my findings at the JMU Honors Symposium on April 23, 2021 and published my thesis in the JMU Scholarly Commons.
September 2018-December 2019
Student Researcher, Bio-Inspired Design
James Madison University, Department of Engineering
I was one of four students that conducted research on Bio-Inspired Design Teaching Methods under Dr. Jaqueline Nagel. The team presented finding at Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Research Conference in March 2019 at Virginia Tech.