Marcia Silva received the B.S. degree in Food Engineering from the University of the Sinos Valley, Brazil, in 2004 and the M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, in 2006. She is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI. She worked in the industry for 11 years; taught Engineering classes for a total of four years, and conducted research with the UWM - School of Freshwater Sciences - Great Lakes WATER Institute and UWM - College of Engineering for the past eight years. Her research interests include fate and transport of microbial pollutants in environmental flows, coastal water quality, and by-products utilization. She was a recipient of the 2011-2012 UWM Graduate School Dissertator Fellowship Award and several other scholarships and awards. She is the author of journal papers and book chapters.