Engineer · Translator · Marshall Scholar
Environmental engineer and data scientist who moves between technical systems and the communities they serve — translating complex problems across industries, governments, and people to build solutions that actually work.
Columbia, Missouri · 2026
Background
Joshua Donaldson is a Biological Engineer (Environmental Focus) from the University of Missouri, heading to the University of Leeds as a Marshall Scholar to pursue an MSc in Water, Sanitation, and Health Engineering. He graduated with a 4.0 and minor in Biological Sciences, building technical depth across process scale-up, environmental compliance, circular economy, data engineering, and infrastructure design.
His work sits at the intersection of water, industry, and health. From processing 28,000+ industrial monitoring records at the Environmental Integrity Project to designing a rural water transmission line in Panama, he has worked across technical, policy, and community contexts — translating data into reports, presentations, and decisions that reach real audiences.
He speaks three languages — English, French, and Swahili — and sings as a choral soloist. He sees engineering not as a fixed toolkit but as a way of asking better questions about the world.
Prototyped molds for process scale-up of ion-imprinted polymers used for rare earth element recovery from industrial wastewater. The design goal was to prevent fouling and allow backwashing, which meant maximizing sphericity.
Core Expertise
Designing and analyzing water systems across industrial and public health contexts — from rural water transmission lines in Panama (break pressure systems, filtration, climate resilience) to rare earth element recovery from industrial wastewater using ion-imprinted polymers at the Missouri Water Center. Grounded in process scale-up, circular economy principles, and the conviction that water infrastructure is as much a public health issue as an engineering one.
Hands-on work across the full compliance stack: NEPA, CWA, and CAA matrices at Black & Veatch; Phase I & II ESA review for utility-scale infrastructure; wetland permit monitoring and fenceline benzene emissions gap analysis at the Environmental Integrity Project. Built geospatial APIs modeled after EPA EJScreen to bring localized risk data to teams making real regulatory decisions.
Applying quantitative methods to problems that matter. Built end-to-end data pipelines processing 28,000+ industrial monitoring records; deployed automated permit-tracking platforms with GitHub Actions; developed environmental justice screening APIs. Also: analyzed 400+ medical records to quantify WIC enrollment impact, and used ArcGIS Max-Ent modeling to predict water quality impairment across Florida. The through-line is turning messy data into something a decision-maker can use.
Work & Research
In the field
Tanzania · CLS Program · 2024
Missouri Water Center · 2025–26
Tiger Pantry Field Day · 2024
Truman Scholarship · 2025
Tanzania · 2024
Yorkshire Dales · Leeds · 2026
Technical Work
Automated platform monitoring 45+ permitting websites for wetland and energy infrastructure notices using Python and GitHub Actions. Deployed a geospatial API modeled after EPA EJScreen for community-level environmental risk assessment.
End-to-end data pipeline processing 28,000+ environmental monitoring records across 130+ industrial facilities, with interactive dashboards and exportable datasets built for a regulatory team making real compliance calls.
ArcGIS Max-Ent model predicting water body impairment from climate variables and hurricane track data — built to support proactive infrastructure planning in a state where water quality failures carry real public health costs.
IoT sensor network with Arduino-based controls integrating real-time soil moisture and weather data for precision irrigation scheduling — an early experiment in what smart infrastructure looks like at a small scale.
Used EPA and CDC datasets to analyze water quality disparities and model waterborne disease trends across geographies. The infrastructure gaps driving rural health outcomes are well-documented and largely unaddressed.
Measured NO₂ concentrations and characterized urban land loss using open-source satellite imagery — a fast-turnaround environmental impact analysis using freely available remote sensing tools.
Recognition
Fully funded postgraduate study at any UK university. Mizzou's first Marshall Scholar since 2010 — one of the world's most prestigious academic awards.
The premier U.S. graduate fellowship for future public service leaders. Mizzou's first Truman Scholar since 2021.
Highest student leadership honor in the entire University of Missouri System, awarded by the Board of Curators for moral character.
Named a finalist for study at the University of Oxford — one of the world's most competitive international fellowships.
U.S. Department of State immersion in Tanzania. ACTFL Advanced Low oral proficiency. Produced a 10-page report in Swahili on digital agriculture in East Africa. Now serves as Alumni Ambassador.
President of the biological engineering honor society; Mortar Board recruitment director; Tau Beta Pi member. Missouri Seal of Biliteracy in French.
Timeline
Joins Tiger Pantry as a volunteer. Begins the MU Math Study, conducting home visits to study how family environments shape early mathematical learning in Title I families.
Administrative internship at Mosaic Life Care Foundation. Joins Engineers Without Borders Panama project. Begins skeletal muscle regeneration research at the MU School of Medicine.
Studies Swahili in Tanzania on a U.S. Department of State CLS scholarship — first time traveling internationally. Achieves ACTFL Advanced Low oral proficiency. Takes over as EWB Director of Projects, leading the Panama water transmission line design and construction.
Awarded the Truman Scholarship — Mizzou's first since 2021. Environmental consulting internship at Black & Veatch. Begins rare earth element recovery research at the Missouri Water Center.
Graduates with a 4.0 and the UM System's highest student leadership honor. Leads WIC enrollment study at Clay County Public Health Center. Data science internship at the Environmental Integrity Project. Moves to Leeds.
What's Next
Contact
Open to conversations across water, energy, and industrial systems, environmental consulting, infrastructure policy, and anywhere the technical and human sides of a problem need someone who can move between them.
Technical Skills
Languages
Beyond Engineering