GW Serves: Senior Intersects Engineering with Civic Engagement

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Growing up, Isabella Perusse wanted to be a doctor-until she went to her first cadaver lab.

But even with practicing medicine out of the equation, Perusse still yearned to use her passions for math and science as a means to help people, a value her family had long instilled in her.

While operating on actual humans turned out not to be her forte, she enjoyed taking apart and putting together inanimate objects such as pens. And as a high school senior in her native Fishers, Indiana, she began gravitating toward engineering.

It has turned out to be the perfect field to intersect STEM and serving. That was especially true as she focused more on sustainable water resources, inspired by a 2014 incident where a massive toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie contaminated the drinking water supply for over 400,000 residents in Toledo, Ohio, where she had family that was directly affected.

"That definitely impacted my decision to go into environmental engineering," she said. "I think everyone deserves fresh, clean water, so that was a big part of it."

Her time as a civil engineering major at the George Washington University has only further enhanced this ambition as the senior has been involved in numerous projects and endeavors connecting her area of study to civic engagement.

"I think that intersection is one of the most valuable things an engineer can have," said Perusse, who frequently volunteered at food banks and her local Humane Society as a child. "Engineering should be done with communities, not just for them. We need to make sure their wants and ideas are incorporated into the design."

Perhaps no experience embodied that more for Perusse than Engineers Without Borders(EWB), a national nonprofit organization that has a chapter within GW's School of Engineering and Applied Science.Perusse became involved right away her freshman year and quickly immersed herself in the organization's eight-year project focusing on a stormwater collection system in Bhutiya, India.

By the end of her first year at GW, Perusse, who would eventually become the project's lead, went on-site with the team for a two-week engineering immersion to check in on the construction of the percolation pond they were building in a rural Indian community within the region.

"The pond was fully constructed, and they told us their well water levels were raised, so we left them in a good place, which was really meaningful," Perusse said.

Perusse has also helped oversee a project building a learning center for refugees in Uganda during her time as EWB president.

Her work on behalf of other communities at GW has extended beyond the walls of engineering as she has been actively involved with the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, where she has contributed to some of the university's most high-profile service events.

She is an annual events program assistant with the Nashman Center, where she plans, organizes and implements days of service, including the annual MLK Day of Service and Leadership and Veterans Day of Service.

While it's a lot of work coordinating with various sites throughout D.C. and planning out the logistics to make a day when thousands of student volunteers disperse throughout the community, the reward and impact make it all worthwhile for Perusse.

"I really love seeing the Days of Service actually happen," said Perusse, who is also active with the Nashman Center's Give-a-Gift tradition during the holiday season. "It's so cool when people come back with smiles on their faces and are like, 'Oh my gosh, I loved learning about this.'"

To get an idea of the amount of work Perusse has put in to these projects, the 2026 MLK Day had 700 participants with 18 partners that she developed from an initial list of more than 30, while the Give-a-Gift program collected more than 1,000 gifts while serving seven organizations.

Perusse has traveled across the region to meet with school administrators, teachers and nonprofit leaders to build relationships between GW and D.C. community and tackle local issues together. She credits these experiences with making her a more well-rounded engineer.

"The Nashman Center has given me tools to communicate better," Perusse said. "Even when I was traveling to India, the community members didn't have the same technical language or English proficiency that we did, so I had to really dig into my toolbox and figure out how to frame things differently. Nashman has helped me build that toolbox and add more tools to it."

Her time at GW, both in and out of the classroom, has equipped her to build a better future for herself-and others.

GW Serves is a series featuring students who are living out the university's mission to build up public service leaders and active citizens to create a better world.