Caroline Denniston

Caroline Denniston (she/her/hers) is a Water Policy & Research Associate supporting our work on water policy, infrastructure, and regional planning. She came to the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) water policy team after beginning her career as a systems engineer at NASA. She later earned a master’s degree in Environmental Policy, where she focused on climate adaptation in urban environments, and has since worked on environmental policy and planning in both domestic and international settings.

Caroline began her career as a systems engineer at NASA, where she supported the planning and coordination of spaceflight programs. Her interest in environmental policy led her to work on coastal resource management systems in the Philippines. There she worked with local governments on conservation projects and environmental planning before pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. While in graduate school, she worked with the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva, where she supported the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions through policy research and analysis. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago with a specialization in Environmental Policy.