Women in STEM: environmental engineer works to improve Iowa’s water quality, land reclamation

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This story first appeared in Engineers Week 2025, an annual special section that showcases a variety of local engineering topics to celebrate all that engineers contribute to our world.

Alyssa Iverson, environmental engineer at Shive-Hattery, didn’t grow up wanting to be an engineer.

“I didn’t know any engineers, and my high school didn’t offer engineering-focused classes, so it wasn’t a path I was exposed to early on,” she said. It wasn’t until she started researching college options and stumbled across a description of the biological systems engineering major at Iowa State that she became interested.

“It incorporated subjects I was interested in, like science and math, and also had an emphasis on sustainability, which was important to me, so I decided to just go for it without really knowing what it meant to be an ‘engineer,’” Iverson said.

She said her biosystems major covered a broad range of topics related to sustainable design, which allows one to pursue a path in a lot of different areas, including water resource engineering, food engineering or renewable fuel engineering. Iverson had an internship with a water engineering group based in Omaha where she learned about wastewater, drinking water and stormwater engineering projects.

“I found that I was really drawn to stormwater engineering, which is how I ended up working in the Water Resources Group at Shive-Hattery after graduation,” she said.

Since 2020, Iverson has had the opportunity to work on water quality projects that have a direct impact on the environment, including lake restoration, abandoned coal mine restoration and more.

“The projects I primarily work on focus on stormwater management, which can involve designing systems to capture pollutants, control flooding or provide recreational opportunities— or often a combination of those things,” she said, noting this means a lot of computer-based work, dedicated to hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, developing plans and writing reports. Iverson also does get out in the field to visit project sites or meet with clients to discuss their needs on a given project or get feedback on a design.

Luke Monat, water and environment market leader for Shive-Hattery and Iverson’s team leader, said Iverson has been an impactful part of the team thus far. “There are some folks who have an intelligence and a quiet strength about them and who don’t need the spotlight. Alyssa is one of those people. She’s got humility and really puts her head down to work hard on a project, and she has done some amazing work so far.”

He noted her strong presentation to the community in northeast Iowa about Silver Lake in Delhi.

“I asked her to help with the presentation, Monat said. “And I thought Alyssa did a fantastic job of preparing and presenting and communicating some complex interactions that were happening there. She does a great job of communicating and explaining those along with potential solutions that could be explored. She can be one who doesn’t want the spotlight, but I wanted to challenge her to get outside of her comfort zone.”

Iverson has long known that agricultural work and sustainability must go hand in hand.

“Growing up in Nebraska and then moving to Iowa, I’ve seen my whole life how large and important the agricultural industry is. And because agriculture is so prevalent here, a lot of the land and water resource challenges that we face in Iowa are related to agriculture,” she said.

Iverson went on to get a master’s degree in agricultural and biological systems engineering, giving her the background she needed for the work she does today with Shive-Hattery.

The land located in Pella, Iowa, after undergoing successful reclamation. Alyssa Iverson, environmental engineer at Shive-Hattery, worked with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship on the project. (Photo courtesy of Shive-Hattery)

The land located in Pella, Iowa, before the Janssen Mine Reclamation Project. (Photo courtesy of Shive-Hattery)

Algae covers the surface of Lake LaVerne on the Iowa State University campus. As an ISU grad, Alyssa Iverson worked on a study to identify the root causes of these algae blooms and provide the university with recommendations to improve water quality. Shive-Hattery is now conducting a feasibility study on the lake. (Submitted photo)

“Many of our projects, like nutrient reduction wetlands, lake restoration projects or stormwater detention ponds, are directly related to managing pollutants that come from farmland,” she said. “This might mean designing a lake dredging project to remove sediment and pollutants or designing a pond or wetland to capture and treat pollutants before they end up in the water supply.”

Protecting freshwater resources is her most important task. “As climate change leads to more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, the challenges around water management will continue to grow, which means that implementing sustainable practices to manage stormwater will become more important,” Iverson said.

As an Iowa State grad, Iverson said one of her favorite projects to date was doing a study of the iconic Lake LaVerne on the Iowa State Campus.

“The lake has had water quality problems over the years, particularly algae blooms that take over the lake during the summertime. Our study aimed to identify the root causes of these problems and provide the university with recommendations to improve water quality,” she said. “The insights from our study will help the university make decisions about potential restoration efforts, which is a great feeling knowing that our work could have an impact on such a prominent landmark at my alma mater.”

Another recent project she worked on was an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation project near Pella, Iowa.

“Iowa has over 13,000 acres of abandoned coal mine sites,” she said. “These sites create problems because the areas contain dangerous earth piles and pit ponds, and pose environmental issues due to polluted water and acidic soils that can leave the site and pollute surface water resources.”

Iverson noted that Shive-Hattery has worked with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to design restoration projects for several of these sites in the past, but the Pella site was the largest project to date, at about 160 acres.

“I had the opportunity to work on the restoration design, which included treating and discharging the acidic pit ponds, re-grading the site to gentler slopes, neutralizing acidic soils, and re-planting the site to oak trees and native prairie. The project is currently under construction, and I’m excited to see the transformation.”

As an environmental engineer, Iverson is making a positive impact across Iowa.

“I think the most rewarding part of being a civil engineer is seeing something that you worked on be applied to make a difference in the real world,” she added. “Sometimes that’s seeing a study or report that you wrote being used to make a management decision, or sometimes that’s seeing a design that you worked on come to life in a construction project. Almost all of my projects are based in Iowa, so it’s rewarding to be able to work on and address water resources problems that are close to home.”

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