Portrait of Nick Valcourt
PhD Graduate
Civil Systems • Engineering for Developing Communities
nicholas.valcourt@colorado.edu

Nick's doctoral research focuses on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) systems in developing countries. His work, supported by USAID, examines the application of systems thinking and analysis approaches to intractable WASH issues from the local to national level in four divergent country contexts. Prior to graduate school, Nick worked as a water and wastewater consultant on domestic and international infrastructure and planning projects as well as consulted for non-profit organizations working on water and sanitation projects in Peru, Haiti, and Morocco. Nick is also a member of the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities Leadership Team and one of the principal organizers of the Colorado WASH Symposium. Nick spends his non-academic time designing houses, building furniture, climbing, skiing, hiking, and relaxing in the mountains outside of Boulder.

Education

  • PhD in Civil Engineering (Civil Systems), University of Colorado Boulder, 2019

  • MS in Civil Engineering (Civil Systems), University of Colorado Boulder, 2016

  • Certificate in Engineering for Developing Communities, University of Colorado Boulder, 2015

  • BS in Civil & Environmental Engineering, The George Washington University, 2007

Awards

  • Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities Fellow, 2016

  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2015

Articles

  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Hollander, D., Linden, K., (2018). Summary Report of Baseline Iterative Factor Mapping and Learning (IFML) Analyses in Ethiopia And Uganda. Washington, DC: Sustainable WASH
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Hollander, D., Linden, K., (2018). Summary Report of Baseline Iterative Factor Mapping and Learning (IFML) Analyses in Kamuli District, Uganda. Washington, DC: Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership: United States Agency for International Development.
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Hollander, D., Linden, K., (2018). Summary Report of Iterative Factor Mapping and Learning (IFML): Kampong Speu, Cambodia. Washington,
    DC: Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership: United States Agency for International Development.
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Hollander, D. (2019). Factor Mapping for Rural Water and Small Town Sanitation Services. Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership: United States Agency for International Development.
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., and K. Linden (2019) “Understanding Complexity in WASH systems”. All Systems Go Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands.
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., and K. Linden (2020). “Assessing the efficacy of a group model building workshop in an applied setting through purposive text analysis”. System Dynamics Review. 26(2). 10.1002/sdr.1657.
  • Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Linden, K., and B. Hailegiorgis (2020). “Understanding Rural Water Services as a Complex System: An assessment of key factors as potential leverage points for improved service sustainability.” Sustainability. 12(3). 10.3390/su12031243.
  • Valcourt, N., Javernick-Will, A., Walters, J., K. Linden (2020). “Systems Approaches to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: A Systematic Literature Review”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17(3). 10.3390/ijerph17030702.