Water Works
by Michelle Mondo
Joan Bryant (B.S. ’16) always loved being outdoors. Growing up in San Antonio, she enjoyed local nature areas, not knowing that her future would entail becoming an environmental engineer to preserve them.
Her job as an engineer with the San Antonio River Authority focuses on erosion and stream restoration, including examining how development can negatively impact the natural functions of the environment “and trying to build in a way that integrates the environment and the built world, mimicking or utilizing natural processes in design,” she said.
Her work is even more important as extreme weather events in Texas escalate. The Kerr County floods highlight the danger posed to residents living in flood-prone areas.
“We always go through extreme drought and then extreme, intense rain events, especially in the Hill Country located in what’s called Flash Flood Alley,” she said. “It’s well-known that we will receive these very intense storms. And then the way the terrain is set up, we have a lot of bedrock and clay and steep slopes, it just creates these incredibly dangerous environments.”
Now in a fulfilling job, Bryant took a winding path to get there. Bryant’s main reason for going to St. Mary’s was receiving a tennis scholarship. She had not decided on a major.
“I didn’t have a master plan,” she said. “But I liked the idea of problem-solving.”
That led her to engineering, and she gravitated toward Engineering Science with a concentration in Environmental Science, morphing her past play into a professional passion. She worked first in the private sector, where she was the lone woman in the firm. Eventually, Bryant looked for a more community-focused job.
“St. Mary’s is why I currently work in the public sector and continue to want to work in the public sector,” Bryant said. “St. Mary’s has a huge emphasis on community. So that’s also what I love about working at the San Antonio River Authority. I feel the projects and the work we do are trying to help our community.”
That spirit of community extends to mentoring current students and giving back as a monthly donor to the St. Mary’s 1852 Club. Bryant has two women students she mentors — she wants them to be more comfortable in an environment where they may be the only women, like her first job.
“I was young at the time, and it was a little isolating,” she said. “I just wanted to start a relationship early with mentees, building that rapport so they’re comfortable enough to come to you if they have problems.”
Through a sponsorship by the San Antonio River Authority, she also mentored a team of five St. Mary’s students working on their senior design project.
Joan Bryant“St. Mary’s is why I currently work in the public sector and continue to want to work in the public sector. St. Mary’s has a huge emphasis on community. So that’s also what I love about working at the San Antonio River Authority. I feel the projects and the work we do are trying to help our community.”
Professor of Industrial Engineering Gopalakrishnan Easwaran, Ph.D., mentored Bryant during her senior engineering design project.
“As a mentor and observer of her journey, I witnessed firsthand her growth into a thoughtful, innovative and purpose-driven engineer with community at her heart,” he said.
Easwaran added that his former student embodies the University’s Marianist mission.
“She doesn’t just solve problems — she builds relationships, inspires action and strives to leave any situation better than when she found it,” he said. “Joan Bryant is a shining example of what it means to be a St. Mary’s graduate: intellectually curious, socially conscious and joyfully engaged in the work of building a more just and sustainable world.”
