Editor’s note: Rachel von Gnechten was an intern at CAP in 2016 and, after earning her bachelor’s degree in 2017, her master’s degree in 2019, and getting some professional experience, joined CAP as planning analyst II in Resource Planning and Analysis.

Rachel von Gnechten does not use her civil engineering degrees in a traditional way. She doesn’t build roads or design skyscrapers. As a planning analyst, von Gnechten builds bridges that connect natural and urban environments … data and policy … people and community.

Growing up, von Gnechten was always drawn to math and science, yet knew she wanted a career that was people-centric and community focused. Her connection to community was not surprising since her parents’ careers had strong community ties – her father is a public educator, and her mother is a counselor.

Her sense of community wasn’t just an abstract thought. It was visible in her play as a child – she spent hundreds of hours building Polly Pocket cities and designing houses and neighborhoods on Sims, a life simulation video game.

So, when an eighth-grade teacher mentioned his daughter used to enjoy similar things and was now a civil engineer, it resonated with von Gnechten.

“Something about his comment made me do some research about civil engineering and I discovered that it’s building roads and cities and I thought, ‘that is what I want to do,’” said von Gnechten.

She entered college with a sense of purpose: she was going to study civil engineering. She knew early on that her biggest challenge would be finding the right connection to people and policy. Von Gnechten considered transportation engineering, but it ultimately didn’t feel like the right fit. The search continued.

She wasn’t excited about taking a course on fluid mechanics because it seemed extremely theoretical and less connected to the human component she was interested in. How ironic when she discovered that she loved fluid mechanics!

“I had an amazing professor and that’s when I realized that for me, water was where it was at,” said von Gnechten.

With water in her mind, von Gnechten found the post for an internship in Water Operations at CAP and knew it was a great opportunity because it had a strong policy connection. It was a way to use civil engineering in a slightly different way while giving her a new level of appreciation of natural resources.

“My parents were always mindful of our consumption and stressed that we have limited precious resources,” said von Gnechten. “Doing an internship at CAP got me behind the scenes and gave me a more complete appreciation of the level of detail in managing those resources. Once I realized all the complexities, I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

She finished her last year at ASU and after graduation, she wanted to push herself out of her comfort zone, so the Arizona native looked across the country for a graduate school with the right fit. She found the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s engineering department had a water resources program with a strong policy focus and provided von Gnechten with the opportunity to explore that on an international level. Her master’s degree focused on farmers in Zambia using adaptation strategies to deal with climate change in their region and she spent nine weeks in Zambia working with a group to survey those farmers.

When she earned her master’s degree in civil engineering with a concentration in water resources in 2019, she was eager to find a job that combined her interests, so she jumped into the job pool.

“I knew I wanted to work on water policy and thought, ‘policy happens in Washington, D.C.’ so I found a job at the International Water Management Institute,” said von Gnechten.

The work was interesting. It focused on water and agriculture, had a large technology component, and exposed her to just how interdisciplinary water policy work can be. Yet, the connection to her community in Arizona was strong.

“Through all of it – as interesting as all those issues were – the thing that kept pulling my attention were news stories on the Colorado River,” said von Gnechten. “It was close to home and felt impactful to my community, and that was exciting to me.”

She found a job at the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) working on Colorado River issues. After time, an opening at CAP gave her the opportunity to return to the organization where she had done her internship and where her passion for water policy had taken root. 

Von Gnechten joined an interdisciplinary team of water professionals where she works with data and uses that data to help provide insight and support for some of these policy questions as future water negotiations take place. Her contributions provide an engineering slant, focusing on analyzing data and visualization.

“I am excited to be part of a team that is moving the needle on water issues in our state,” said von Gnechten. “I love that my work impacts my community and hope that my contributions help create a more sustainable Arizona.”

Von Gnechten, a life-long learner, most recently was selected to be part of the Water Education Foundation’s Colorado River Water Leaders program. The 13-member cohort is up-and-coming leaders from the Upper and Lower Colorado River basin states in the early stages of their career. The goal of the year-long program is to connect these diverse water professionals, strengthen their knowledge of the river and encourage collaboration and understanding.

She said she considers herself incredibly fortunate to be working on Arizona’s diverse and interesting water issues in a time when collaboration is critical, and the stakes are high. She encourages those interested in water to recognize the interdisciplinary approach that is being used.

“If you’re interested in working in water, don’t hesitate – your skill set can be used in a way you’re not expecting,” said von Gnechten. “Come with an open mind and you’ll hear all different perspectives which is necessary to get to a solution that will work. You can’t solve problems by looking through only one lens.”