Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2019
  • M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2015
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 2011
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Civil, California, #95309
  • 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response Certification (HAZWOPER)
Professional Honors
  • Northwestern University Terminal Year Fellowship, 2018 – 2019
  • Royal E. Cabell Fellowship, 2014 – 2015
  • University of California, Berkeley Undergraduate High Honor Roll, 2007 – 2011
  • American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award for team project “PlantLAB”, 2011

Dr. Petrovich is a Senior Engineer in Exponent's Environmental and Earth Sciences practice. She is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer with a focus on Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. She has extensive experience in water and wastewater treatment processes and characterization and remediation of contaminated sites, including Superfund sites. Dr. Petrovich has evaluated large-scale project sites contaminated with compounds including metals, PCBs, PAHs, dioxins, chlorinated solvents, and radionuclides. She has expertise in chemical forensics and historical reconstructions of contaminant releases in soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water, as well as ecological impacts associated with contamination. Her experience includes investigations into potential environmental impacts associated with manufacturing processes, including analyses of PFAS compounds. She has also conducted environmental risk and toxicity assessments of chemical substances involved in product manufacturing. Dr. Petrovich has collaborated extensively with commercial laboratories, and has field experience collecting water, wastewater, sludge, sediment, air, and soil samples. She has worked with public utilities to analyze microbial ecology in full-scale wastewater treatment bioreactors and to investigate relationships between community composition and reactor performance using molecular methods. Dr. Petrovich is also familiar with NPDES permitting and regulations related to municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities.  

Further, Dr. Petrovich has experience in environmental planning and landscape architecture with project experience related to ecological and landscape design. She has designed infrastructure improvements in dense urban areas to improve air quality and reduce public health impacts from diesel emissions. Dr. Petrovich has also drafted plans for living walls and green roof systems and has worked on the design and construction of composting toilets.