Dr. Scott Vitter

  • Graduate Research Assistant, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Captain, US Army (Ret.)

After college, Scott joined the US Army as an Engineer Officer, working in a variety of roles including platoon leader, executive officer, and project manager. During a deployment to southwest Afghanistan in 2013, Scott observed how energy and water scarcity created both challenges and opportunities for the fledgling Afghan democracy. Upon leaving active service, and having already caught the "energy bug," Scott landed at the Webber Energy Group to study urban energy and systems.

Some of his military education includes Ranger School, Airborne School, Pathfinder School, and Jumpmaster School.  He is a Senior Rated Jumpmaster and recently concluded a stint with the Texas Army National Guard. Other than research, his favorite hobbies are squash, podcasts, marathons and kombucha brewing.

Research Topics

Scott's work in the energy-water nexus focuses water infrastructure as a demand-side resource for the electric grid. Water treatment, distribution, and sanitation services consume large amounts of electricity. Additional energy goes towards water heating and water appliances in the built environment. Due to these linkages, decisions that save water also save energy. Because water is easily stored, water systems can also operate flexibly in a way that provides a service to the electric grid. By integrating water and energy systems to a larger extent than is common today, cities can achieve synergies between two large infrastructures.

Scott's current work includes water event disaggregation using residential energy and water data, structuring municipal energy and water appliance efficiency programs, studying time-of-use electricity rates and peak-shifting incentives for pump stations, and optimal sizing and dispatch of community-scale water recycling systems.

Publications
to come
Education

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude, The University of Notre Dame, 2010

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