Rachel Grandpre
Secretary
Institute for Water Resources
Rachel has a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology with honors from Smith College and a Master of Science degree from the University of Rhode Island in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Geosciences. She started her career at USACE IWR as a 2010 Presidential Management Fellow (PMF).
While at IWR, Rachel worked on a broad portfolio of complex water resources research and study efforts. In that time period, she also participated in several developmental assignments including working with the Planning Division Coastal Studies Group at the Los Angeles District, the Fish and Wildlife Service Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the US Geological Survey Headquarters for a part-time detail assignment to help coordinate and edit the water technical input report of the 2014 National Climate Assessment, and as a Climate Change Adaptation Analyst for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Rachel was also a graduate of the 2017 USACE Planning Associates Program.
Rachel served as the deputy Secretary of the PIANC US National Section in 2017-2018 and became Secretary of PIANC USA in October 2018. She is also the Young Professional (YP) representative on the PIANC Permanent Task Group on Climate Change and serves as the PIANC Liaison to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) Ports and Harbors Committee. Additionally, she served on the board of the American Water Resources Association – National Capitol Region Section (AWRA-NCRS) from 2016-2018.
Prior to her career with USACE, she had scientific research fellowships at Rutgers and the University of Bremen (Germany), worked for National Park Service through several Geological Society of America GeoCorps America fellowships, and worked in the private sector as a Project Geologist for a private environmental and civil engineering consulting firm.