Environmental engineering Ph.D. student Lauren Hagerty has been named a 2026–27 ARCS Foundation Fellow, earning prestigious support as she begins her graduate research at the University of Utah.

The ARCS Foundation supports promising scientists and engineers whose research has the potential to drive scientific discovery and innovation. Through its partnership with the University of Utah, the Utah Chapter helps the Price College of Engineering recruit exceptional Ph.D. students pursuing high-impact research.

For Hagerty, that research will focus on an increasingly important environmental challenge: what happens when wildfire ash enters the water sources communities depend on for drinking water?

Hagerty will join Dr. Katherine Dowdell’s lab, where she plans to investigate the microbial effects of wildfire ash in primary drinking-water sources. Her work will build on a research background that already spans environmental engineering, environmental science, and contaminant analysis, while helping researchers better understand the potential consequences of wildfire on water quality and treatment.

Hagerty comes to the U from Lehigh University, where she earned a B.S. through the Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts and Sciences program, with concentrations in environmental engineering, ethics, and environmental science. As an undergraduate researcher, she studied the geochemistry of coal ash and investigated the presence of rare earth elements in ash byproducts using scanning electron microscopy.

That experience with ash and environmental contaminants provides a natural foundation for the next stage of her research. At Utah, she will combine that background with her interest in drinking-water treatment to examine an environmental problem with growing implications for communities and water systems.

The ARCS Foundation's support is intended to help universities attract and retain promising researchers at the beginning of their careers. At the University of Utah, ARCS fellowship funding provides $5,000 annually during a student's first three years, with additional support from the Price College of Engineering bringing the minimum annual investment in each ARCS Scholar to $30,000.

Outside the lab, Hagerty enjoys exploring the outdoors through backpacking, kayaking, rock climbing, and traveling—interests that complement a research career dedicated to understanding and protecting the environment.