Katy Graham

Katy Graham is an Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, within the College of Engineering. She joined Georgia Tech in 2023 after completing a President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship there. Her academic background includes a PhD and MS in Environmental Engineering and Science from Stanford University (2015–2021) and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan (2015).

Her research focuses on microbial water quality, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), public health risk assessment, and environmental virology. Her lab employs molecular biology, microbiology, and modeling tools to address water-related health challenges globally. Key research themes include pathogen fate and transport in built/natural environments, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), and green stormwater infrastructure efficacy.

In 2023, her team received a $2.1M EPA grant to study pathogens and disinfection byproducts in drinking water distribution systems. She leads the WatCH (Water, Climate, and Health) lab at Georgia Tech and collaborates on projects like fecal source tracking and cold-chain-free nucleic acid preservation for wastewater surveillance. Dr. Graham has contributed to high-profile studies on SARS-CoV-2 persistence in wastewater, viral adsorption to sampling tools, and the development of novel microbial source tracking markers such as Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus genes.