Lorelay became passionate about the connections between water, health, and society while interning at the World Health Organization in Switzerland in 2019, and she has continued to explore those themes in her work ever since. Her doctoral research examined the fate of wastewater contaminants across multiple scales. Her projects have included evaluating failing onsite septic systems in rural Alabama, studying virus decay in wastewater from semi-centralized systems in Senegal, and developing methods for wastewater-based epidemiology at large wastewater treatment plants in the US.

At Trussell, Lorelay contributes her expertise in wastewater treatment, study design, and stakeholder engagement to support water reuse projects. Lorelay holds a B.S. in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering from San Diego State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.