Title: Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and IIHR assistant faculty research engineer

Research interests: River hydraulics, sediment transport, and physical modeling 

For Priscilla Williams, it was a little different. “I was told that I should be an engineer,” she says. As a high school student, Williams thought she would follow in her older sister’s footsteps by studying biology and education. “I thought, ‘I’ll just do what she’s doing,’” Williams remembers. 

Big sister had another opinion. “She told me, ‘Just do engineering.’” 

Williams wasn’t sure she could do it, but with encouragement from her sister and her physics teacher (Williams was a whiz at math and science), she decided to give engineering a try. 

Williams went to the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where she earned an undergraduate degree in civil engineering with a focus on structures. Along the way, she took a hydraulics course and absolutely loved it. A professor suggested that she pursue graduate school in hydraulics, and Williams decided to go for it. Eventually, she earned a master’s degree and a PhD. 

Anyone studying hydraulics is aware of IIHR, Williams says. “Obviously, Iowa’s on your radar.” She was about to move to Vancouver when she saw a job posting at IIHR. “It was right up my alley in physical modeling with sediment transport,” Williams says. She applied, interviewed, and moved to Iowa City a month later.  

Williams’ postdoc was spent working with IIHR associate director Troy Lyons and director Larry Weber on a large physical modeling project designed to help trout pass the Freeman Diversion on California’s Santa Clara River.  

The 1:24 model of the river was a huge lift for the entire physical modeling group. On March 31, 2023, the shop team put the final touches on the model just before noon.  

“At that point, I had been working on it for a year and a half of my life,” Williams remembers. Just before 5 p.m. that afternoon, a tornado hit the building and destroyed the model. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but it was a devastating loss.  

“I’m really glad I got the opportunity to work on that model,” Williams says. “It was a really great experience.”  

After her postdoc, Williams was hired for a faculty position in civil and environmental engineering, and she continues her research at IIHR. The transition from postdoc to faculty member is a steep one, Williams says. “I still feel like I’m just getting started. The past five months have gone by really quickly.”  

She likes teaching and sharing some of the lessons she learned with her students. She’s currently teaching Principles of Hydraulics and Hydrology. “I love that course because it’s their first taste of hydraulics and hydrology,” Williams says. 

For her, the transformative lesson was about the Froude number. “My professor used the illustration of throwing a pebble in a river. This was in 2011, and I still remember that. I use that now, and it’s my favorite lesson to teach.”  

Outside of work, Williams enjoys playing pick-up soccer with colleagues. She also loves to read — physical books, not on a screen.  

Looking back, Williams says she got good advice at every crucial juncture in her career, starting with the big sister who steered her toward engineering.