Adalia Sivey

Adalia Sivey told her environmental chemistry lab leader at Towson University that she enjoyed her high school summer research internship, but she would like to pursue an engineering degree.

“They suggested I look into environmental engineering as it was similar to the work I’d been doing, but with more of a focus on math and design,” Sivey says. 

Sivey studied environmental engineering at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, where she says “each class was more interesting and exciting than the last.”

While at ASU, Sivey gained experience during internships with the City of Phoenix Water Services Department.

“I worked on a project where we monitored losses through key transmission mains to determine if there were any areas with excessive pressure loss,” she says.

She also toured drinking water and wastewater plants, which broadened her knowledge of potential careers and deepened her understanding of concepts she’d learned in class. The next summer, Sivey was invited back to work on a research project related to advanced water purification, or AWP. 

“I modeled different sources of dissolved salts entering a wastewater treatment plant to help predict how changes could potentially impact an AWP facility,” she says, which taught her about water treatment technology to combat the impact of water shortages.

Assistant Teaching Professor Mackenzie Boyer’s class on global environmental perspectives helped Sivey better understand the complexities of water and resource availability issues, which are so important in Arizona.

“We primarily focus on drinking water and wastewater treatment, which are critical to our everyday lives,” she says. “However, the work often goes unnoticed as we’re so accustomed to having clean water in our taps that we rarely think about how that water gets from the rivers and canals into our homes.”

She’s grateful for the support she received from the New American University Scholarship at ASU, and proud of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam.

After graduation, Sivey will continue to pursue her master’s degree in environmental engineering as part of the Accelerated Master’s program at ASU.

“I hope to help develop solutions to Arizona’s ongoing water shortages so that we and future generations can continue living here without worrying about running out of water,” she says.

Favorites

Hobby: Reading
TV show: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Sport: Curling
Book: The Ranger’s Apprentice Series
Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ spring 2026 class.

Written by Lisa Irish