Science journalist Chelsea Wald is the author of the book Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, 2021) and the Nature feature The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world (2022). For nearly a decade, she has repeatedly plunged into the topic of toilets, since editors first approached her to write about the latent potential in our stagnating infrastructure. Since then she has traveled to Italy, South Africa, Indonesia, and Haiti, as well as throughout the Netherlands and the United States, in search of the past and future of toilet systems. She has donated her urine to a urine-donation scheme in the Netherlands and visited several urine-diversion projects. With a degree in astronomy from Columbia University and a master’s in journalism from Indiana University, Chelsea has more than fifteen years of experience in writing about science and the environment. She has won several awards and reporting grants, including from the Society of Environmental Journalists, the European Geosciences Union, and the European Journalism Centre. She cofounded and continues to help coordinate the DC Science Writers Association Newsbrief Awards for short science writing. She lives with her family in the Netherlands, in a region renowned for its water-related innovations.