Katy Dunstan, a non-traditional undergraduate student at Augusta University, is set to graduate from the Department of Physics and Biophysics this December. Before enrolling at Augusta University, Dunstan worked as a licensed esthetician while raising her 10-year-old son and managing her household. After a divorce and reassessment of her career goals, she decided to pursue further education.
“I worked in my field for a while and still maintain my license, but it’s not what I wanted to do,” Dunstan said.
With encouragement from her family, Dunstan enrolled full-time in the College of Science and Mathematics, initially considering construction management engineering due to family connections in that industry. However, she found herself drawn to physics with a concentration in the Nuclear Science Program.
“I do like to build things. I always like to tinker,” she said. “I’ve always been a precise person, and I like things to be exact.”
Her skills in organization and precision proved valuable when working with electronics despite having little coding experience at first. Joe Newton, PhD, assistant professor of physics and program manager for nuclear science, encouraged her to join his program.
“This is all his fault, and I love him for it,” Dunstan said. “I switched to physics and never looked back.”
“Katy is such a hardworking and dedicated student who stays motivated by keeping her end goals in mind,” Newton said. “It is also really cool that she is in the cohort of students who will mark the 100th graduate of the Nuclear Science Program, because she embodies the qualities that this program values.”
Andy Hauger, PhD, professor of physics and head of the Augusta Utilities Internship program, also recognized Dunstan’s talent during an Electronics II course. He invited her to participate in his summer internship program focused on building devices for city utilities.
“I pay close attention to craftsmanship. It’s very important,” Hauger said. “Katy is persistent, dedicated and her level of craftsmanship is unequaled around here.”
As part of this team effort with other students and representatives from Augusta Utilities, Dunstan developed several projects including a water depth sensor called H2-Float. She improved upon an earlier lab prototype by designing it specifically for use on the Augusta Canal. The new device has become routinely used by Augusta Utilities due to its performance compared with more expensive commercial alternatives.
“The other version used expensive monitors that already existed, and they put their load cell on top,” Dunstan explained. “In the real world, you have temperature differences which affect how a load cell works. If it gets too hot or cold, the readings change.”
Dunstan addressed these issues while reducing costs significantly; her four-foot sensor costs about $200 compared with similar commercial sensors priced upwards of $1,500 plus additional charges for features like Bluetooth connectivity or data storage.
The sensors are programmable through Arduino and Particle microcontrollers so they are open-source; anyone can use or modify them based on their research needs. They transmit data via cellular networks or long-range radio (LoRa), removing the need for manual monitoring at each site.
Dunstan presented H2-Float at the 2025 Georgia Association of Water Professionals Annual Conference and Expo alongside other students from Augusta Utilities’ programs. She continues refining these sensors until graduation as Augusta Utilities plans wider deployment along local waterways.
“Ultimately, I would like this to be utilized to mitigate dangerous water conditions,” she said. “Since this device is easily made, inexpensive and can extend to whatever size you need, I would like to see it put out in 20 to 30 water sources in the area. Augusta Utilities can use the data from these sensors to improve models used to predict flooding and drought conditions.”
