Podcasts about coastal engineering

Plans are afoot to build the world's largest wind-wave research lab, capable of generating 200 MPH hurricane winds and 5-meter-high waves. This NSF-funded facility will enable full-scale investigations into structural and coastal resilience — and a secure future in the face of destructive natural hazards. On today's show, Florida International University wind engineer Arindam Chowdhury joins us to describe this facility, the National Full-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge, and Wave Events — or NICHE, for short.About NICHE. The NICHE lab will have a 20-fan array capable of generating 200 MPH winds, that's a Cat 6 hurricane — as well as generating transient winds like tornadoes and downbursts. NICHE's enormous wind field will enable testing of full-scale two-story structures. It will have a 500-meter-long wave flume and be capable of generating five-meter-high waves. Significantly, the NICHE team is incorporating facility protocols for researchers to deliver expedient, real-world impact. 

Guest: Don Slinn, Associate Professor, Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida

In episode 211 of America Adapts,  Doug Parsons attended the 2024 New Jersey Coastal and Climate Resilience Conference at Monmouth University in New Jersey. In this episode, we'll be engaging with New Jersey's top experts and leaders to discuss the current state of coastal science and research, climate resilience, and ecological restoration.  We'll explore how peer-to-peer learning and community engagement are driving successful projects—from municipal resilience plans to floodplain buyouts—and share insights into what it takes to secure community buy-in for impactful initiatives. You learn about the New Jersey Coastal Resilience Group Collective and the power of multisector partnerships. Plus, we'll touch on the networking opportunities that this conference provided, helping to build relationships and foster collaborations essential for advancing coastal and climate resilience efforts. We'll also hear how the state of New Jersey is developing innovative adaptation regulations for coastal protection. This episode has a great mix of conference attendees doing some exciting work in adaptation in the Garden State! https://www.americaadapts.org/episodes/new-jersey-coastal-and-climate-resilience-conference Experts in this Episode: ·         Nick Angarone – Chief Resilience Officer New Jersey Dept of Environmental Protection. ·         Shawn LaTourette – Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. ·         Terry Doss – Meadowlands Research and Restoration Institute ·         Tony MacDonald - Director of Urban Coast Institute ·         Elizabeth Semple – Climate Resilience Manager, The Nature Conservancy – New Jersey ·         Dr. Nick Brown – Climate Scientist and Advocate, HDR ·         Nathaly Agosto Filion - Climate Resilience, Environmental Justice & Urban Sustainability, NJ Department of Environmental Protection ·         Dr. AR Siders – Asst. Professor, University of Delaware ·         Dr. Tom Herrington – Associate Director of Urban Coast Institute ·         Laura Kerr - Senior Research Engineer NJ Sea Grant Coastal Resilience Specialist ·         Dr. John Miller - Research Associate Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology ·         Nora Morton – High School Student state of New Jersey ·         Monika Serrano – Resilience Program Manager, Turner Construction   Topics covered: ·         Managed Retreat in New Jersey ·         Urban Coastal Institute ·         Climate Change Communications ·         First hand experience with Hurricane Sandy ·         New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative Structure ·         Key Issues in Coastal Engineering and Resilience ·         Implementing Nature Based Solutions ·         Thinking Beyond Structural Solutions ·         Coastal Tourism and Resilience ·         Blue Acre Program and Climate Resilience Initiatives ·         Favorite naturals areas in New Jersey! Check out the America Adapts Media Kit here! Subscribe to the America Adapts newsletter here. Links in this episode: https://nj-crc.org/2024-conference Going Coastal Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-coastal/id1745764555 https://www.monmouth.edu/uci/   Donate to America Adapts Listen to America Adapts on your favorite app here! Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/americaadapts/ @usaadapts https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-parsons-america-adapts/ Donate to America Adapts Follow on Apple Podcasts Follow on Android Doug Parsons and Speaking Opportunities: If you are interested in having Doug speak at corporate and conference events, sharing his unique, expert perspective on adaptation in an entertaining and informative way, more information can be found here! Now on Spotify! List of Previous Guests on America Adapts Follow/listen to podcast on Apple Podcasts. Donate to America Adapts, we are now a tax deductible charitable organization! Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Strategies to Address Climate Change Risk in Low- and Moderate-income Communities - Volume 14, Issue 1 https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/publications/community-development-investment-review/2019/october/strategies-to-address-climate-change-low-moderate-income-communities/ The 10 Best Sustainability Podcasts for Environmental Business Leadershttps://us.anteagroup.com/news-events/blog/10-best-sustainability-podcasts-environmental-business-leaders The best climate change podcasts on The Climate Advisorhttp://theclimateadvisor.com/the-best-climate-change-podcasts/ 7 podcasts to learn more about climate change and how to fight ithttps://kinder.world/articles/you/7-podcasts-to-learn-more-about-climate-change-and-how-to-fight-it-19813 Directions on how to listen to America Adapts on Amazon Alexahttps://youtu.be/949R8CRpUYU America Adapts also has its own app for your listening pleasure!  Just visit the App store on Apple or Google Play on Android and search “America Adapts.” Join the climate change adaptation movement by supporting America Adapts!  Please consider supporting this podcast by donating through America Adapts fiscal sponsor, the Social Good Fund. All donations are now tax deductible! For more information on this podcast, visit the website at http://www.americaadapts.org and don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.   Podcast Music produce by Richard Haitz Productions Write a review on Apple Podcasts ! America Adapts on Facebook!   Join the America Adapts Facebook Community Group. Check us out, we're also on YouTube! Executive Producer Dr. Jesse Keenan Subscribe to America Adapts on Apple Podcasts Doug can be contacted at americaadapts @ g mail . com

How should we re-engineer our coastlines and oceans to boost marine biodiversity?Dive into this deep discussion between host Roma Agrawal and Jaime Ascencio, Coastal Engineer and CEO of Reefy, a startup focused on innovations for the blue economy.Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more info.New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coastal protection is a core part of James Lam's work as Surbana Jurong's Managing Director for Coastal Engineering. Listen to his podcast as he shares about the importance of biomimicry and adaptability in planning coastal protection measures, while balancing national development needs. This podcast is brought to you by the Surbana Jurong Group.

In this episode of Going Coastal, Jon is joined by Lauren Schambach, an Ocean Engineer with The Mitre Corporation and Mohammad Jamous, an Ocean Engineering PhD candidate at Stevens Institute of Technology.  Find out what happens when a girl from the Jersey Shore takes her Ocean Engineering talents to Santander, Spain.  Learn how Mohammad, a student from Jordan found his passion for Coastal Engineering in the Pacific Northwest. Hear some of the tips and tricks each used to help them make the most of their overseas experience.

An interim report submitted to the Florida Building Commission says that Southwest Florida coastal communities impacted by last September's Hurricane Ian were “ill-prepared” for the storm surge and flooding, despite lessons on wind mitigation learned from Hurricane Charley 18 years earlier.  Ian was the costliest storm in Florida history, killing 156 people and causing an estimated $109.5 billion in damage in Florida.  Only an estimated half of that will be covered by insurance.Former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner Lisa Miller sat down with the report's co-author and another extreme events scientist who produced early catastrophic models on Ian for insurance companies.  They discussed how this new research shows some of the same patterns of destruction seen in prior storms, that Florida hurricanes are not getting stronger or more frequent, how elderly and poor residents are disproportionately hurt, potential changes to the state building code, and why a new approach to mitigation is needed.    Show Notes New lessons are emerging from Hurricane Ian, the high-end Category 4 hurricane that made landfall near Fort Myers Beach on September 28, 2022.  An interim report by a team of scientists supported by the Florida Building Commission showed Ian's tropical storm-force wind field was 2.3 times the diameter of 2004's Hurricane Charley.  The greater resulting storm surge of 13 feet impacted high population areas living in both elevated and on-grade homes along hundreds of miles of canals and coastal frontage.  (For full Show Notes, visit https://lisamillerassociates.com/episode-44-dynamic-duo-ian-hit-hard/) Findings: The report evaluates specific building code-related impacts to structural performance, including breakaway walls relative to code provisions, placement of the coastal construction control line, evidence for surge-induced floor slab uplift forces, and performance of common roof cover and wall cladding elements. Dr. David O. Prevatt, one of the report's co-authors, is a Professor of Civil & Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida's Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.  He is part of the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network of researchers and product engineers that conducts surveys to assess building performance after each hurricane.  Its evaluation was used in the interim report and captured Hurricane Ian's damage patterns and storm surge.  Dr. Prevatt said Ian was not a design level wind-event, meaning its wind speed on land of about 120 mph was below the building code standards of 154-160 mph for Lee County, where it made landfall on September 28, 2022.“The severe damage we saw was really the flooding, in particular the manufactured homes on Fort Myers Beach and mostly older slab-on-grade homes,” said Dr. Prevatt.  “The good news, if there is any that we can draw from this, is that recent construction built to the recent Florida Building Code standards performed well, even in areas where they were impacted by the 13-foot high storm surge.”Yet, Ian destroyed or severely damaged about 20,000 homes in a wide path from Lee County on the Gulf Coast and inland across central Florida to Daytona Beach on Florida's Atlantic Coast.    Dr. Prevatt said he saw the same patterns of damage in Ian that he saw in the previous six years from Hurricanes Matthew, Irma, and Michael.  “It's one of the saddest parts for me.  If we don't harden our communities or retreat and move them away from these intense events, we will repeat what we've seen here five, 10, 20 years down the road,” said Dr. Prevatt.    Dr. Karthik Ramanathan is Vice President of Research at Verisk, the worldwide data analytics and risk assessment firm.  He led the catastrophe modeling team that estimated Hurricane Ian's initial insurance and reinsurance losses at between $42 billion to $57 billion, not including federal flood insurance losses.  The firm's catastrophe or extreme event models not only help insurance companies determine adequate insurance premiums to the assessed value of risk and speed adjusters to the hardest hit areas right after the storm but “can also act as excellent platforms for you to test out the impact of mitigation measures,” said Dr. Ramanathan.  “As David said, the performance of manufactured homes or mobile homes continues to be a major issue, even 30 years after Hurricane Andrew, although a lot has been done to strengthen them,” said Dr. Ramanathan.  “We saw a colossal amount of damage to manufactured homes.  Older and middle aged homes also saw significant damage.”  He and his team spent a week in South Florida after Hurricane Ian made landfall, surveying damage in both coastal and inland counties.  Some inland counties he noted had “pretty staggering” claim losses similar to coastal counties near Ian's landfall.“Even on the wind side, some of these inland counties saw a significant amount of claims, primarily coming in from roof damage.  And to me, it's mind boggling, seeing the same state which sort of pioneered wind design, not just in the United States, but across the world, is seeing some of the same issues 30 years on in an event like Ian,” said Dr. Ramanathan.  New Approaches to Mitigation: Host Miller noted that mitigation often poses a quandary for homeowners and policymakers.  “We're looking at construction costs going through the roof if we build stronger.  We're looking at property insurance premiums rising because perhaps we haven't,” she said.   Less than two weeks after Hurricane Ian, Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Florida's east coast with modest winds but a large storm surge, creating additional flooding and tremendous coastal erosion.  Nearly 50 oceanfront homes, condominium buildings, and hotels in Volusia County either collapsed into the surf or suffered severe erosion damage.Dr. Prevatt said the same conditions have actually existed for thousands of years in Florida.  “We have the same hurricanes today.  They are no more intense.  They're not larger, nor are they more frequent than the hurricanes that have moved over the last 5,000 years.  So what is happening?  We have more construction.  We have more people building on barrier islands.  Barrier islands are called barrier islands, I think, because they were meant to protect the mainland shoreline from the storm surge, from these damages.  And they're meant to move the sand with the wind.  Hurricanes are natural hazards.  This is just how things are,” said Dr. Prevatt.Florida's population, he points out, is four times what it was in the 1970's.  “We really have to stop and ask ourselves, ‘How much further?  How much money?  How much federal effort should we put into securing and holding on with our own biting nails, to small pieces of land, as opposed to leaving and understanding what is happening on a natural basis?',” Dr. Prevatt asked.“We are building in areas where we are not supposed to build,” Dr. Ramanathan agreed, noting a Florida Department of Environmental Protection report on designated critically eroded beaches.  “And further, we are building in a manner that is not necessarily resilient by putting homes on slab foundations.  It is what led to a disaster that, according to my humble opinion, could have been 100% mitigated.”Part of the mitigation challenge is that 65% of Florida's homes were built prior to Hurricane Andrew.  “New construction may be adding 2% or 3% to our housing inventory per year.  So we're just not at scale to really impact future changes in our mitigation,” said Dr. Prevatt.  He said what's needed is “research that will actually retrofit houses at scale, not one house at a time, (but) one neighborhood at a time, one town at a time.”  Doing so will involve looking beyond the Bell Curve of statistics and instead disaggregating the data.“And what you're going to find is that the majority of this damage, disproportionately high percentages, are going to fall on the least able in our society.  The poorest, the minorities, the black communities, and the tribal communities.  These are the people who have been wiped out.  And the retirees.  Did you know that over 65% of the fatalities in Ian were over 60 years of age?” Dr. Prevatt pointed out.Recommended Building Code Changes: The interim report will be updated to address questions by the Florida Building Commission that will lead to a final report, which can inform future code changes.  Dr. Ramanathan believes the commission can make additional changes to the Florida Building Code beyond those mandated in recent sessions of the Florida Legislature.    He said he would like to see more durable screened enclosures on homes “because if you have to replace a screened enclosure, you're looking at a claim to the magnitude of about $5,000 or $6,000 or probably higher with inflation.”  He said he'd also like to see required window protection across Florida, regardless of whether the home is in a designated wind-borne debris region, “which don't cost a lot to install.”  Finally, although manufactured homes fall under federal HUD standards, he said states can add local amendments.    “I hope, as David said, if the foundation designed for manufactured homes can be looked at closely and even more importantly, if they can be enforced to the same degree as some of the other regular single family home enforcements take place in Florida, I think it will go a long way in mitigating damage following such events,” said Dr. Ramanathan.  Dr. Prevatt said he wouldn't look to the Florida Building Code for short-term changes, but rather a bigger picture of how to create a resilient community born in the 22nd Century.  “I would spend my time in the interdisciplinary research between the economics, urban planning, and engineering analysis that will be necessary for us to re-site our coastal residential communities inland on a macro level.“  Included in that would be converting coastal land to other uses, finding ways to buy-out private properties, and moving entire communities to safer areas, he said. “If we engineers continue to do the same type of research for the next 20 years in the same type of way, we will still end up with the same result.  We have to think way bigger, we have to be grand, we have to be bold, and we have to go out there and do this.  This is a moonshot moment.  This is the time that Florida needs to step up and change it all,” said Dr. Prevatt.Dr. Ramathan said Verisk does a lot of community outreach, through its work with extreme event models.  “In fact, one of our missions is to promote global resilience.  Because insurance, the way I look at it, is the best form of mitigation if used properly,” said Dr. Ramanathan.Host Miller pledged to work with the “dynamic duo” of guests and the listening audience to expand the outreach of this critical scientific research to better educate local, regional, and state policymakers, as well as federal officials.Links and Resources Mentioned in this EpisodeInterim Report: Survey and Investigation of Buildings Damaged by Hurricane Ian (University of Florida Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, April 17, 2023)Dr. Prevatt slide presentation of Interim Report to the Florida Building Commission (May 10, 2023)Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance Network, November 17, 2022) (Scroll down to the “Documents” section and click “View Data” to reveal the three PVRR PDF reports)Priority Research Areas: Hurricane Ian (StEER Network, November 16, 2022)Estimated Industry Insured Losses to Onshore Property for Hurricane Ian (Verisk, October 2, 2022)Florida Senate Community Affairs Committee meeting on the Champlain Towers South Condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida |video of meeting | Florida Building Commission meeting materials (The Florida Channel, January 24, 2023)Critically Eroded Beaches in Florida (Florida Department of Environmental Protection, June 2022)Florida Designated Wind-borne Debris Regions (Florida Building Commission, as of December 2020)Early Lessons from Ian's Damage (LMA Newsletter of 12-5-22)Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund Program (FEMA, December 21, 2022)Ian Was Costliest Florida Hurricane (LMA Newsletter of 4-10-23)All of Florida is at risk of hurricanes. So why aren't impact windows or shutters required statewide? (Sun Sentinel, February 5, 2023)Florida Building Commission** The Listener Call-In Line for your recorded questions and comments to air in future episodes is 850-388-8002 or you may send email to LisaMiller@LisaMillerAssociates.com **The Florida Insurance Roundup from Lisa Miller & Associates, brings you the latest developments in Property & Casualty, Healthcare, Workers' Compensation, and Surplus Lines insurance from around the Sunshine State.  Based in the state capital of Tallahassee, Lisa Miller & Associates provides its clients with focused, intelligent, and cost conscious solutions to their business development, government consulting, and public relations needs.  On the web at www.LisaMillerAssociates.com or call 850-222-1041.  Your questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome!  Date of Recording 2/18/2023. Email via info@LisaMillerAssociates.com   Composer: www.TeleDirections.com  © Copyright 2017-2023 Lisa Miller & Associates, All Rights Reserved

You probably never heard this before: someone switching from a pre-med track to civil engineering. Well, today's guest did just that…all the way to getting his PE license. In this episode, Matt Fanghella details his own journey to passing his exam as a repeat taker, and the little-known process to officially get your license and use those “PE initials after your name. Tune in to Learn: Matt's unconventional path into civil engineering What does a Coastal Engineer do? What the $2.3 billion Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Project is Should you change your depth section if you've failed your PE exam? 2 Tips to to pass your PE exam as a repeat taker What Matt enjoyed the most about The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course What to do now to make the PE license application easier after you pass the PE exam The process to officially get your license after you pass your exam How long does it take from passing your PE exam to becoming a PE? 4 reasons why you should consider getting into Water Resources Differences between working in the government sector vs the private sector Matt's top 4 resources to help you advance in your career Our Partner: Built Bar - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/built Resources Mentioned: Best PE Exam Prep Course, by Test Prep Insight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VntlmKWKj4k Failed the FE or PE Exam, Now What? - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/failed-the-fe-or-pe-exam-now-what CEA Episode #108 (Grady Hillhouse) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEyRzVXuGPE The Ultimate PE CBT Exam Simulator - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/breadth The Ultimate FE CBT Exam Simulator - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/fe-exam NCEES-Approved Calculators - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/resources-page/approved-calculators FE/PE Reference Handbook - https://account.ncees.org/login Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Project - https://www.norfolk.gov/5282/United-States-Army-Corps-of-Engineers-US US Army Corp of Engineers - https://www.usace.army.mil ASCE - https://asce.org Water Environmental Federation (WEF) - https://www.wef.org Practical Engineering YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@PracticalEngineeringChannel Old Dominion University - https://www.odu.edu James Madison University - https://www.jmu.edu CEA Resources: The Ultimate Civil FE Review Course - https://civilfereviewcourse.com The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course - https://civilpereviewcourse.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/civilengineeringacademy/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/civilengineeringacademy/support

As more of the population migrates to coastal areas, the need to improve aging infrastructure and make communities more resilient grows with it. Join us as we talk about the challenges that coastal communities are facing from climate change. From tidal flooding to pounding waves and rapid beach erosion, the risk to communities is growing and the impacts must be understood from both a physical and economic perspective. We'll discuss the application of coastal digital tools , like our City Simulator, and numerical models that will help improve resiliency and provide more certainty for local stakeholders.Joining this discussion:Steve Bourne, Project Director, Atkins Mike Salisbury, Hydrodynamics Team Leader, Coastal Engineering, Atkins Jeff Wright, VP, Water Practice Director, Atkins

In this episode of Going Coastal, we talk with Chris Bender PhD, PE, DCE, Vice President Coastal Engineering at Taylor Engineering and Marianna Fleming, EIT, ADCI, ENV SP, WEDG, Engineer-Diver at Marine Solutions Inc. about professional certification. Chris and Marianna offer up sage advice about when and how to apply for professional certification, what it means to them, and how it has helped them in their careers. This is an episode you won't want to miss. Learn more about the certifications discussed on the program at: Profession Engineer (EIT/PE) - https://ncees.org/engineering/pe/ Diplomate of Coastal Engineering (DCE) - https://www.acopne.org/ Commercial Diver (ADCI) - https://www.adc-int.org/certifications/ (ENV SP) - https://sustainableinfrastructure.org/credentialing/ WEDG Associate - https://wedg.waterfrontalliance.org/services/wedg-professionals/ Certified Coastal Practitioner - https://coastalzonefoundation.org/ccp-training/

In Episode 2 we had a high energy roundtable with the EWN Practice Leads who play a critical role in broadening and expanding the application of Engineering With Nature practices and nature-based solutions within the US Army Corps of Engineers. In Episode 3, the EWN Practice Leads return to talk about how they're solving challenges, advancing EWN implementation through the EWN Implementation Cadre, and sharing what they are learning with other practitioners.   Host Sarah Thorne and Jeff King, Deputy Lead of the Engineering With Nature Program at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), are joined again by a roundtable of the EWN Practice Leads. Elizabeth Godsey is the Technical Lead for Coastal Engineering and Regional Sediment Management with Mobile District; Danielle Szimanski is a Project Manager and Ecologist with Baltimore District; Eddie Brauer is a Senior Hydraulic Engineer with St. Louis District; and Dave Crane is an Environmental Resource Specialist with Omaha District. We asked each to talk about their current projects.   Danielle, a Coastal Practice Lead, describes her work in the Chesapeake Bay where rising sea level is already occurring and is expected to increase. She and her team are restoring barrier islands and marshes to combat the loss of habitat and for flood risk management of inland areas. “Being able to restore these marshes, especially if they're degraded and fragmented, and being able to stave off that future loss and stop them from turning into open water is critical for the Chesapeake Bay.” Danielle also discusses work underway at Deal Island: “The Deal Island project is a maintenance dredging project on the Wicomico River. We're going to use the dredge material to restore approximately 70 acres of degraded and fragmented marsh. This will restore that wetland for migratory birds, and provide nesting habitat specifically for the Saltmarsh Sparrow, which is a threatened species.” She adds, “there's been a lot of work with other federal, state and non-government agencies to create this design and complete pre- and post-monitoring to assess how these wetlands are actually going to provide habitat once they are created.”   Elizabeth, also a Coastal Practice Lead, has worked on a number of coastal restoration projects in the Gulf to restore habitats for threatened and endangered species including sea turtles and piping plovers: “In Mississippi alone we've restored over 2,500 acres across the coastal zone habitats, including beach, dune, wetlands, and island restoration. That's about 2000 football fields of restoration work in that state alone.” She's taking that first-hand knowledge and experience and, as a Practice Lead, sharing leading practices and key learnings with others: “The biggest thing that we're doing is our monitoring and adaptive management. It's a long-term look at the project performance and the ecological benefits that come from the projects. We give that back to scientists, to universities, to people at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), and the US Geological Survey (USGS) so they can improve their modeling tools and reduce uncertainty in their predictions.” She also stresses the importance of combining multiple benefits to help achieve whatever the mission goal is, whether it is storm risk management, navigation and economic benefit, or ecosystem protection and restoration: “We're able to integrate each of those benefits and provide that value-add to the nation. We're getting that message out and showing people how to do that, and how you communicate the benefits of this approach to decision-makers.”   Turning to the Riverine Practice Leads, Eddie describes the importance of taking a holistic perspective of riverine systems. “There are so many people that have a day-to-day connection to the river beyond just the projects that the Corps is doing. It's our responsibility to ensure that we account for everyone's needs on all the projects that we construct. To do that, it's critical to understand that each project is part of a broader system.” He goes on to describe a project that the Corps participated in on the Madeira River in Brazil, the largest tributary of the Amazon River and a critical navigation corridor for transporting goods and people. “It was extra critical for us to be to take a watershed approach, to understand the system before doing anything. We spent four years studying the system prior to making a single recommendation. Through this analysis, we understood that because of the geology of the river, we were able to manage it in smaller reaches instead of very large engineering projects, similar to what you'd see on the Missouri or the Mississippi Rivers. We were able to nudge the river through potentially temporary river training structures and spark natural geomorphic processes to accomplish our goals, as opposed to using a brute force engineering approach.”   Dave is working on a project on a 12-mile stretch of the Platte River that runs through the city and county of Denver where the Corps had built dams in the past. By rethinking the approach and applying EWN principles, he and his team are achieving multiple benefits: “We're doing things like completely removing or modifying drop structures in the river that allow for better fish passage and better in-channel habitat, while also helping to reduce sedimentation the channel. In some areas we're able to pull back the riverbanks to allow more flood water conveyance capacity. Working within an urban area, that has a very direct and large connection to a much larger landscape, laterally and upstream and downstream.”   Working together, the four Practice Leads have learned from each other and developed shared priorities. As Elizabeth notes: “Connecting practitioners of different backgrounds like us with this overarching vision of Engineering With Nature was the thing that really made it easy for us to figure out our group's strengths and differences; how we could come together and work, and also what those priorities needed to be, because we could find those common grounds across the landscape.”   One of their top priorities was expand the practice of EWN across the Corps. In 2021 the Practice Leads established the EWN Implementation Cadre. As Dave explains, “It's an informal internal network of EWN and natural and nature-based features practitioners. We have a space where we connect and share experiences, knowledge, ideas, upload documents to a shared drive and have discussions online.” Danielle describes the process of sharing that goes on across the Cadre: “The key word that we were looking for, for the Cadre hub was ‘crowdsourcing'. Project managers from anywhere in the country that have become a member of this hub can pose a question to the entire group, the multiple hundreds of Cadre members.” As Eddie notes, in addition to leveraging resources and connections, the Cadre provides an opportunity to bring new ideas into the Corps.   According to Jeff, the Cadre as an unqualified success: “When the Cadre was launched, the Leads invited anyone within the Corps who was interested in learning more about the EWN Cadre to attend their opening webinar – 800 Corps employees participated in that first meeting! And the interest has continued. It's just been incredible to see the number of people coming to this space, wanting to learn more about Engineering With Nature, offering their thoughts, and their questions. Creating this repository of information has become so valuable. It's a special place and just a real testimony to the hard work that the Practice Leads are doing.”   Related Links EWN Website ERDC Website Jeff King at LinkedIn Jeff King at EWN   Elizabeth Godsey at LinkedIn Elizabeth Godsey at EWN Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program Gulf Islands National Seashore – Ship Island Gulf Islands National Seashore – Cat Island Deer Island Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project Monitoring and Adaptive Management Alabama Island Restoration-Dauphin Island   Danielle Szimanski at LinkedIn Danielle Szimanski at EWN Wicomico River - Deal Island Project Raising the Bar for Salt Marshes on Deal Island – Audubon   Edward Brauer at EWN USACE St. Louis District: An Inland Proving Ground Madeira River Navigation Improvement Planning Study PIANC – Working with Nature for Climate-Resilient Ports and Waterways   David Crane at EWN USACE Omaha district to partner with city of Denver on $350M waterway restoration, flood mitigation project South Platte River – Final Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement   EWN Implementation Cadre Network of Engineering With Nature EWN Atlas Series   EWN Podcast S4E2: High Energy Roundtable with the EWN Practice Leads  

Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 4! EWN Practice Leads play a critical role in broadening and expanding the application of Engineering With Nature practices and nature-based solutions. Host Sarah Thorne and Jeff King, Deputy Lead of the Engineering With Nature Program at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), are joined by a roundtable of EWN Practice Leads who are all with USACE. Elizabeth Godsey is the Technical Lead for Coastal Engineering and Regional Sediment Management with Mobile District; Danielle Szimanski is a Project Manager and Ecologist with Baltimore District; Edward Brauer is a Senior Hydraulic Engineer with St. Louis District; and David Crane is an Environmental Resource Specialist with Omaha District.   Consistent with this season's theme—Up, Up, Up, with Engineering With Nature—EWN Practice Leads were established to enable the continued expansion of EWN. According to Jeff, “Back in March of 2021, we were experiencing a lot of growth within the EWN Program, and we realized that for this growth to continue, we really needed to reach beyond this national-level program and get out into the field more. We strived to identify individuals who would help us grow the program so, we put out a call internal to the Corps. Eddie, Elizabeth, Danielle, and Dave stepped up and answered the call. It's been really exciting working with all four of them.”   The Leads had various levels of experience with EWN, but all were motivated by an opportunity to help expand the application of EWN principles and practices throughout the Corps by acting as the connection between the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), and the districts. Elizabeth called it an “aha moment,” describing it as “a leadership opportunity to be a mentor and to connect other practitioners with cutting-edge science and engineering with nature solutions.” Danielle was excited about signing on: “I love the idea of sharing opportunities for EWN with others that haven't had that experience before—being able to put EWN at the forefront and show that even if you haven't done it before, you don't need to be afraid of it.”     As Jeff says, it's a two-way opportunity: “For me sitting at a higher level, I do engage with the Corps's districts quite a bit, but there's an opportunity to learn more about what's happening on the ground. The Practice Leads provide incredible insight that helps EWN leadership really get the full picture of what is happening in the districts and where future opportunities are located. All four Leads are dedicated, motivated, and really inspire us to do more.”   The Practice Leads lead the EWN Implementation Cadre—an informal network of US Army Corps of Engineers practitioners, representing a variety of disciplines across the enterprise, that is working to advance the application of EWN principles, practices, and technologies to deliver nature-based solutions (which will be discussed in more detail in Episode 3). The Leads represent two practice areas—Coastal and Riverine. We discuss their experiences applying EWN in their districts and share how EWN approaches, including large, landscape-scale nature-based features, can be translated to other practitioners.   Elizabeth, a Coastal Practice Lead, describes the challenges Mobile District is facing along the Northern Gulf of Mexico coast associated with tropical storms, heavy rainfall, and rising seas: “Those coastal hazards can increase the stressors to our natural and manmade systems that serve as a frontline of defense and increase the risk to our growing coastal populations, critical infrastructure, as well as nationally significant habitats and species. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Congress authorized the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program to address long-term risk reduction. An element of this was to restore offshore Mississippi barrier islands. This resulted with estimated annual storm-damage-reduction benefits of over $20 million to the mainland coast.” These were also discussed in S2E1: Expanding Engineering With Nature.   Danielle, a Coastal Practice Lead, describes work being doing in the Chesapeake Bay on the Swan Island Project that has been mentioned in previous podcast episodes (S1E5: Collaborating to Create Wildlife Habitat While Restoring Islands and Improving Community Resilience and S4E1: Scaling Up, Up, Up with CSTORM and EWN). The Swan Island restoration is intended to work as a natural breakwater against storm impacts to protect coastal areas by using dredged material to increase elevation, along with vegetation (on shore and submerged). The data gathered is being used to improve modeling. “There's been a lot of work across agencies to be able to combine all this information together for the CSTORM model so we can use it, not just in the Chesapeake Bay but across the nation for other island restoration projects, to be able to reduce these storm impacts.” A couple of articles about the model have already been published; and once finalized, the model will be available for anyone to use. The hope is that it will enable completion of more natural breakwater projects by the Corps. As Jeff notes, sharing how EWN is being applied in the districts is important as it serves as a model for other districts.   Eddie, a Riverine Practice Lead, describes some of the challenges St. Louis District faces in its riverine systems, which he notes have been engineered for decades. “We're having to go back and reimagine the way that we're implementing solutions, finding other ways that we can, for instance, have navigation on a system but also create additional habitat without increasing flood risk. It's really important to understand that there are many people with diverse needs out there that we need to accommodate. The solution to both of these problems are Engineering With Nature fundamentals—looking at this as a system and incorporating other people's benefits and needs and partnerships.”   Dave, a Riverine Practice Lead, has been doing innovative work in Omaha District: “It's been neat finding ways to incorporate nature-based features, not only in ecosystem restoration projects but across the full spectrum of our mission.” He adds, “There's a lot of talk about aging infrastructure throughout the country. Maybe levees aren't something that a lot of people think about when they think about aging infrastructure, but some flood risk management infrastructure, including levees, are almost a hundred years old. In large rural areas along the Missouri River, they've been damaged by floods and been repaired in place. Over time, it takes a toll. As we repair flood risk management infrastructure, we're partnering with conservation programs and NGOs and thinking differently about constructing things like setbacks. These can help address ecosystem restoration while improving the infrastructure because you're able to rebuild to modern levee design standards that are more resilient and can withstand over topping without as much erosion damage.”   As we close, Jeff highlights the value of the EWN Practice Leads: “This group of Practice Leads are creating real boots-on-the-ground projects and they're expanding the practice of EWN in their own work, while also being leaders, coaches, and mentors for others that they work with on a regular basis.” Sarah and Jeff invite the Leads to return for Season 4 Episode 3 to talk about how they're solving challenges, advancing EWN implementation through the EWN Cadre, and sharing what they are learning with other practitioners.   Related Links EWN Website ERDC Website Jeff King at LinkedIn Jeff King at EWN   Elizabeth Godsey at LinkedIn Elizabeth Godsey at EWN Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program     Danielle Szimanski at LinkedIn Danielle Szimanski at EWN Coastal Storm Modeling System (CSTORM) Swan Island Restoration: Engineering With Nature (EWN) Principles In Practice   Edward Brauer at EWN USACE St. Louis District: An Inland Proving Ground   David Crane at EWN   EWN Implementation Cadre Network of Engineering With Nature EWN Atlas Series   EWN Podcast S1E5: Collaborating to Create Wildlife Habitat While Restoring Islands and Improving Community Resilience EWN Podcast S2E1: Expanding Engineering With Nature EWN Podcast S4E1: Scaling UP, UP, UP with CSTORM and EWN

Engineering Success interviews Ayo Sokale a Chartered Civil Engineer, a Presenter and Keynote Speaker, ICE President's Future Leader and ICE Superhero ECO Warrior. Ayo graduated with a Masters in Civil and Coastal Engineering from Plymouth University in 2016. She is a professionally qualified Project Manager at the Environment Agency. Ayo is a Supervising Civil Engineer taking graduate engineers through the professional development process to achieve their professional qualification. She is an active member of her professional institution, The Institution of Civil Engineers, where she is a member of The ICE Thames Valley, ICE Policy and External Affairs and ICE Communication Committees. Ayo was also nominated for the Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35 (WE50) initiative run by The Telegraph in partnership with The Women's Engineering Society (WES)

I'm pleased to be speaking with Mike Quinnell, Commercial manager at Fugro in this episode. I have known Mike for a few years and have always been impressed by his commitment & determination to not only be his best at work but also to enable others around him to thrive.Mike is an advocate of putting staff development and wellbeing at the top of his focus list to allow staff to perform to the best of their abilities, to develop themselves and to progress their careers. He recently took on the exciting challenge of creating a new team, and with the experience of his employees very much the centre of his agenda, I was very much looking forward to having this conversation!The high notes we touch on along the way are:Why employee experience is important for us to get rightHow to convince our peers that this needs to be high on the agendaHow we go about building a team culture centred around employee experienceWhat employee experience means to me and my team?How we know if we're getting it rightHow we look after ourselves in the process of developing this important aspect so that we meet the needs of others whilst also looking after ourselvesMore about MikeMichael Quinnell is a senior manager in an industry-leading meteorological and oceanographic (metocean) company. He first qualified in Ocean Sciences, later obtaining a post-graduate qualification in Coastal Engineering. Starting as a marine geophysicist surveying the seabed for cable routes, Mike progressed to an oceanographer position undertaking data analysis and site work, before moving into project and operations management. He then transferred to Singapore to start a new division where he progressed to regional director responsible for South East Asia region. He is presently Commercial Team Manager for Europe and Africa based in the UK.Over a 24 year career Michael has been based in the UK, Norway, France and Singapore, and has supported Clients with projects in over 50 countries, yet he still believes that ‘every day is a school day' as he continues to develop himself and his team.Links to contact MikeLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michael-quinnell-80169922Email: michaelquinnell@hotmail.com Contact details for Lisa LLoyd:LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/lisapsychologyWebsite: www.itstimeforchange.co.ukSign up for Lisa's Monthly Bulletin: www.itstimeforchange.co.uk/jointheclubEmail: lisa@itstimeforchange.co.uk

In this episode of Going Coastal, your co-hosts Marissa and Jon talk with Nicole Zuck, a PhD candidate at Stevens Institute of Technology. Hear how Nicole's initial interest in geology has helped frame the way she approaches coastal engineering. Learn more about Nicole's PhD research on the interaction between offshore bars and structures on nourished beaches, her experience collecting field data, and her advice for those interested in doing the same.

In this episode of Going Coastal, your co-hosts Marissa and Heather talk with Matthew Janssen, a PhD candidate at Stevens Institute of Technology. Matthew has been in the program for four years, and took a rather circuitous route to get to where he is now. Learn more about Matt's PhD research topic, his experiences before and during his time in the program, and what his plans are for the future.

In our second episode featuring REU students studying this summer at the NHERI SimCenter, DesignSafe Radio host Dan Zehner asks rising seniors Adithya, Claire, and Will about ther career plans. All three discuss ways that their experience working at the SimCenter has reinforced their plans to earn a master's or PhD degree and conduct more research. They agreed that their 10-week experience combined a powerful blend of mentoring in research protocols along with the freedom to investigate genuine engineering problems on their own. The NHERI SimCenter is the network's computational modeling and simulaiton hub based at UC Berkeley.  With encouraging words for the future undergrads applying to the REU program, the students said that prior research experience was not necessary. They were surprised that, despite their inexperience, the SimCenter team treated them like bonafide researchers and expected them to draw their own conclusions. Adithya, who is considering a PhD in engineering, said that the REU program has given him valuable proficiency as a researcher.  Related Links:NHERI REU Summer Program InformationMeet the REU StudentsNHERI Simcenter

NHERI's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program provides 10 weeks of hands-on research experience for undergrads from across the country. In this episode, three young engineers describe their experiences working at the NHERI SimCenter, the network's simulation hub based at UC Berkeley. The students are Adithya Salil Nair from the Ohio State University, Clair Sorensen from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and William Zakka from University of Texas Austin.Related Links:NHERI REU Summer Program InformationMeet the REU StudentsNHERI Simcenter

In June 2021, tsunami engineer Mike Motley and his University of Washington team conducted more than 400 tsunami debris flow tests in the large wave flume at NHERI at Oregon State University. Armed with this data, Motley is taking a statistical approach to predicting and modeling debris flows on structures. Listen in!Related Links: NHERI Coastal Wave/Surge and Tsunami Experimental Facility Tsunami Debris Experiments in the OSU Large Wave FlumeOrder from Chaos: A Statistical Approach to Predicting Tsunami Debris Flow

Professor Mike Motley's research team, Dakota Mascarenas, graduate student, and undergraduate Abbey Serrone, an undergraduate, traveled from University of Washington down to Oregon State to conduct a suite of tsunami-debris experiments in the facility's large wave flume. The pair offer advice for engineering students who want to do hands-on research. They talk about working with the NHERI at OSU team and what it is like working on a (nearly) all-female research group.Related Links: NHERI Coastal Wave/Surge and Tsunami Experimental Facility Tsunami Debris Experiments in the OSU Large Wave FlumeOrder from Chaos: A Statistical Approach to Predicting Tsunami Debris Flow

Werner Houson is a Physical Planning Officer in the Department of Planning with more than ten years experience. The Department also houses the Development Control Authority (DCA) - the authority which grants the approvals for all land and building development in St. Lucia. With degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Environment and Natural Resource Management, a Masters in Coastal Engineering and also being part-time Developer; he takes us through the requirements, guidelines, challenges and offers recommendations to help make this mandatory step in the development process a lot more efficient, less frustrating and potentially save home-owners thousands of dollars!

Wisconsin Sea Grant's Anne Moser and Adam Bechle are beginning a project designed to connect middle-school students in Racine to their watershed by exploring coastal engineering concepts.

Wisconsin Sea Grant's Anne Moser and Adam Bechle are beginning a project designed to connect middle-school students in Racine to their watershed by exploring coastal engineering concepts.

Matt Blacka is Chartered Professional Engineer (Civil, Environmental) with 17 years of applied experience leading projects in the fields of coastal processes and hazards, estuary processes, coastal structures and coastal climate change adaptation.

Welkom bij een nieuwe aflevering van Leaders in Finance. Deze week zijn we in Amstelveen bij Don Ginsel, de founder en CEO van Holland Fintech. Welkom Don! Don groeide op in Heemstede en deed de middelbare school in Haarlem met een bèta pakket om vervolgens in Delft Civiele Techniek en ‘Coastal Engineering' te studeren. Daarnaast studeerde hij parttime bedrijfskunde  aan de Erasmus in Rotterdam. Tijdens zijn studententijd runde hij met een aantal studenten een eigen consultancy bedrijf dus het ondernemende zat er al vroeg in, hetgeen trouwens ook blijkt uit een stage voor Boskalis in Saoedi-Arabië. Hij werkte de eerste 7 jaar van zijn loopbaan voor ABN AMRO en Deutsche Bank in allerlei lending, risk en management rollen.  Vervolgens volgde een reeks aan andere parttime en fulltime posities, zoals Finance Director, Venture Capitalist, Business Developer, Incubators en het begeleiden van Startups. Daarna volgde volledige focus op het oprichten van Holland Fintech. Holland Fintech werd in 2014 opgericht en is een netwerk van allerlei organisaties, van groot tot klein, in de financiële sector. Naar eigen schrijven op de website zijn er 507 bedrijven aangesloten, 22.000 mensen betrokken, zijn er meer dan 250 evenementen georganiseerd en meer dan 300 nieuwsbrieven verzonden. Don is daarnaast betrokken bij een aantal stichtingen zoals Capital Waters en Fintech ÆRA. Tot slot, Don gebruikt zinnen als 'Making financial innovation work for society' en 'Driven to have a positive impact on the world.' Dus volgens mij is dit niet een ondernemer die enkel gericht is op het verdienen van geld, maar daar zullen we zeker naar vragen in dit gesprek.    *** Volg Leaders in Finance via Linkedin   *** Vragen, suggesties of feedback? Graag! Via email: info@leadersinfinance.nl    *** Vragen voor een gast? Stel er ook één! Meer informatie: luisteraarsvraag.   *** Als je de Leaders in Finance podcast leuk vindt, zou je dan een review willen achterlaten bijvoorbeeld bij Apple Podcasts? Of ons willen volgen bij Spotify. Veel dank, want sommige mensen gaan alleen luisteren naar deze podcast als ze weten dat er genoeg anderen zijn die het leuk vinden!   *** Leaders in Finance wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt door Interim Valley, FG Lawyers en Bizcuit. Meer informatie over onze sponsoren is te vinden op onze sponsorpagina.     

R. Harvey Sasso has been a practicing coastal engineer for more than three decades and now leads one of the many superb firms that serve along the American Shoreline. As they say, he's been there and done that. In this episode from the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association meeting, Harvey joins Peter Ravella on the American Shoreline Podcast to talk about what's changed over that time and what hasn't. While the tools of the trade are better -- sophisticated modeling and lots more data -- the profession remains in its essence an art and a discipline infused with the unpredictability to our ever-changing shorelines. Most importantly, the profession faces the true challenge of rising seas and greater risks to their public- and private-sector clients. Is the profession ready? Does resiliency hold the key to the future? Can we afford to do what is likely to be required to protect our coastal communities? Dip your toe -- or a foot -- into the world of the coastal engineers with a great guide, Harvey Sasso, one of the premier coastal engineers in Florida. It's an interesting and surprisingly provacative discussion.

This podcast was produced by Madeleine Jordan to help provide a deeper understanding of the Burnie Journey project. The interviews, recordings and production took place as part of a work placement with Creative Carbon Scotland from the Edinburgh College of Art. The Burnie Journey research project explores how adopting a creative approach to engagement could be taken by Scotland’s flooding authorities to effectively raise levels of flood awareness and preparedness in flood risk communities. Unlike traditional forms of public engagement, this project sought the skills and expertise of a creative practitioner to design and facilitate a number of engagement workshops on flooding and local flood risk management on behalf of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). The project was funded through SEPA’s internal Research and Development Fund and was managed by SEPA’s Flooding Communications and Customer Services team. SEPA commissioned Creative Carbon Scotland to help shape and develop this project using their knowledge of the cultural sector and experience of connecting environmental and climate change organisations with those working in the arts. Creative Carbon Scotland was instrumental in bridging the gap between SEPA and project artist, Simon Gall. The project was also supported by Aberdeen City Council’s Structures, Flooding and Coastal Engineering team who provided local flooding knowledge and community contacts. To find out more about the project, visit the Floodline Scotland web-page: floodlinescotland.org.uk/creative-engagement. To find out more about our wider culture/SHIFT work visit our project page: https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/project/cultureshift

Michael Tranmer    Michael Tranmer is a Life Coach, Speaker, Engineer and Author of the upcoming book: satori ananda - awaken to happiness. Since attaining two engineering degrees Michael has seen great success specializing in Coastal Engineering. His transition into the Thought Leader industry came after reaching a low point in his life followed by a powerful transformation with the help of his own coach. Michael currently lives and plays in Vancouver but has massive plans to create a global life of travel, adventure and inspiring others. As a high performance coach, Michael recognizes that a consistent, disciplined and focused lifestyle are the only way to make dreams come true. Through his coaching Michael helps empower young professionals in the workplace, he also helps launch new online coaches, leaders and entrepreneurs.   www.michaeltranmer.com   Listen to another #12minconvo

Welcome to Season 2 of Civil Conversations! Today, we zoom into an exciting and growing discipline within structural engineering – Structural Health Monitoring, or SHM. SHM involves the implementation of data collection systems on engineering structures to collect dynamic response measurements. This information can then be used by engineers to model the structure, as well as analyze and diagnosis problems. We are joined by Dr. Jennifer Bridge, a wonderful professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering and the director of Small Infrastructure Management Laboratory. Dr. Bridge has worked on an exciting and diverse array of SHM projects, and has a wealth of knowledge on current research and trends in the field. On this episode, we learn the basics of structural health monitoring and then dive into the details of this more interdisciplinary side of structural engineering.Show Notes:UF SIM LabSunshine Skyway Bridge:PBSUF Transportation InstituteFDOT ReportCommitteesSHM in Hong KongStructural Health Monitoring VideoThank you for tuning in! Civil Conversations is a podcast about civil engineering exploring exciting research, projects, and innovations in the field through interviews with academics and professionals! This is an independent project of the University of Florida Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. If you enjoyed the show, please share with your friends! Follow us on: Facebook LinkedIn Website You can contact the show by emailing civilconversations.pod@gmail.comGive us your feedback to make this show better!Short Feedback SurveyMusic by Poddington BearProduced, Edited, and Hosted by Sophia SemenskySupported by the UF American Society of Civil Engineers Chapter

Episode 15 of Black Tech Unplugged features Dr. Jeremy Magruder-Waisome. Dr. Waisome is a graduate of the University of Florida's (UF) Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering where she obtained her bachelors and masters of science and doctorate of philosophy degrees. She currently serves as Postdoctoral Associate in the Computer & Information Sciences & Engineering Department at UF and Project Manager of the National Science Foundation Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance: Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences (iAAMCS, pronounced "I Am CS"). She works in the Human Experience Research Lab with Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, where she conducts research on broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing. On the episode Jeremy and I discuss: • Her unexpected path into tech • How science and tech are alike yet different • Why talented Black techies can go unnoticed • The NSBC conference in New Orleans August  See full show notes here: If you enjoy Black Tech Unplugged, leave a review & rating over on Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/black…ged/id1244622242)

David Prevatt, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida   Raised and schooled in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, from an early age David Prevatt was interested in science and structures. As an islander, he also grew up sailing and windsurfing. He recollects the exhilarating feeling of using wind power to skim the waves. He earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from the University of the West Indies. After a stint as a civil engineer in Trinidad and Tobago, his curiosity and interest in research took him to Clemson University where he earned his master’s and PhD degrees in civil engineering.   Prevatt describes wind as a natural force, not a “disaster” in and of itself Disaster happens, he says, when we make buildings that are inadequately prepared to resist the wind. That is why he is grateful for the NHERI network. He sees tremendous value in having all types of natural hazards engineers  working towards resilient communities.   The community is a force of its own, Prevatt explains. Communities in hazard-prone areas need to start making hard decisions. Should they build stronger? Or should they perhaps build in areas that are not prone to hazards like strong winds? Communities need to assess their risk tolerance.   He discusses his research on extreme wind hazards, hurricanes, in the Caribbean. Our human nature, he says, makes it difficult for us to be rational. We tend not to remember bad events in the past, or at least think the unfortunate event won’t happen in the near-term future.   In fact, Prevatt’s first research paper, written in the early 1990s, concluded that if Caribbean nations did not take steps to address their vulnerability to hurricane risk, hurricane disasters would happen again. Hurricane David destroyed Dominique. Monserrat was devastated by Hugo. Now, 25 years later, many billions have been spent on construction that did not take hurricanes under consideration, he says, so it is not surprising what has happened to these countries in recent storms, he says.   Prevatt discusses human biases that lead poor community decisions. As an engineer, he says accurate data on hazard risks is the best tool for convincing communities to manage their risks. But even with data provided by groups like FEMA -- $1 spent on hazard reduction provides six times the future benefit – he acknowledges that communities continue to spend on immediate things, not on long term preventive measures.   He explains how the market help could convince consumers that they should purchase a house that’s build stronger than the local code, one that will last longer and have an increased level of safety. It is a hard argument for countries in the developing world, he says. He wants people rebuilding in the Caribbean to ask questions from engineers and other experts – and get straight answers -- before they rebuild in the same unsafe ways.   In his reconnaissance trip to of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Prevatt describes seeing new construction going up that did not take future storm damage into account. There were engineering and economic questions that were not considered. He cites an example: new phone poles went in right were the old ones had been. Which means the new poles are just as likely to fail. Post disaster is the time to consider improvements, he says, such as redundancies and backups.   He proposes that island standards perhaps should be different than mainland standards – so they can be more self-sufficient after a disaster. Prevatt cites grim statistics: In Puerto Rico, 93% of the country’s GDP will be going to rebuilding efforts.   He discusses traditional building techniques in the Carribean. Roof-to-wall connections often fail, often due to large eaves, structural elements that provide shade. He discusses ways that the Carribean communities could become more resilient. A wind-resilient neighborhood is safer, and there is a market for that, he argues.   Such communities need to hold their leaders’ feet to the fire to make hard, long-term decisions.   Although Prevatt is generally optimistic, he quotes an ASCE engineer who studied tornado wind loads and proposed building tornado-resistant houses – in 1897.   As a researcher, he poses important philosophical questions about our seemingly irrational inability to apply important lessons that research offers. Nevertheless, Prevatt loves his work as a wind engineer.  Given even a small chance that he might succeed in changing the state of affairs, he continues to research and provide data-driven advice. Indeed, he could help a lot. Plus, he says, he has fun.   As well as doing research, he teaches at the University of Florida. He loves guiding really smart students – who are the future of hazards engineering.   One of Prevatt’s most memorable natural disaster experiences was after tropical storm Fran, which caused considerable damage in Trinidad. On a reconnaissance mission, he visited a two-story house had that lost its roof. He remembers that the home owner was jovial at first, making jokes despite her problems. When he investigated, he discovered that although the roof had been designed to be bolted to the walls, the nuts and bolts were not there! The roof had never been properly attached. The discovery shocked and upset the owner – to learn that her damage was preventable. The incident has stuck with him. Prevatt says that he never forgets that the human cost of natural hazards goes beyond physical damage.

Dr. James "Jacy" Bird is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. He received a Masters of Engineering Science in Coastal Engineering from James Cook University in Australia and a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. He earned a PhD in Engineering Science from Harvard University as well and completed an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Boston University. James has received a number of awards and honors during his career, including a Fulbright Scholarship and an NSF CAREER Award. Jacy is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.

Calorie restriction Careful restriction of the number of calories eaten, without causing malnutrition, extends the lifespan of numerous organisms – from worms to mice – but whether it works in monkeys is controversial. Building on results from a long-running primate experiment, a team at the University of Wisconsin show a reduction in mortality, in response to caloric restriction. So there seem to be some benefits, but Tracey Logan asks if this can be applied to humans? And would we want to live longer on a tightly controlled diet?Dating the Moon New work by planetary scientists from France, Germany and the USA, has given the most accurate date yet for the birth of the moon. The Moon is believed to have formed out of debris from a massive collision with another Mars-sized planet. The date of this event has always been controversial as radioactive decay readings have produced wildly different results. But this clock uses a different approach, and rules out an early-forming moon. The later the moon formed, the less time for life to evolve.Mars Yard In 2016 Europe launches a mission to mars. ESA's robotic rover will land on Mars in 2019, and in the meantime, needs to practice. To test it, scientists have recreated the surface of Mars, with 300 tonnes of sand. Reporter Sue Nelson went to Stevenage to play in the sandpit, for science.IPCC This week sees the most recent report from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. And the message is the same: the climate is changing as we continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Should we concentrate on adapting to climate change, rather than stopping it? Professor of Coastal Engineering at Southampton University, Robert Nicholls and Dr Rachel Warren of the UEA's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research discuss adaptation plans.Producer: Fiona Roberts

In this final episode, Shon Schooler from the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) explains the goals of this exciting new project at St. Louis River estuary. The St. Louis River is the largest American river that flows into Lake Superior, and has been an important transportation hub for many decades. University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute has helped sponsor much research in this estuary, including the new research being conducted by Emily Stanley and graduate student Luke Loken on sediment deposition in the estuary. They talk about the goals of their ambitious research project, and then University of Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Marie Zhuikov closes the series with a poem about the intertwined symbiotic relationship between Lake Superior and the St. Louis River Estuary.

This video podcast lets you see firsthand the dredging materials from Lake Superior that University of Wisconsin coastal engineering specialist Gene Clark has found beneficial uses for, as well as a close look at the strange corrosion appearing on steel pilings in the lake that has puzzled scientists and challenged harbor managers. It is a companion piece to the previous podcast, where the issues and challenges of maintaining resilient and sustainable coastal communities are discussed in detail. Videography by John Karl.

This episode takes you to a busy Sea Grant conference in Duluth to meet University of Wisconsin coastal engineering specialist Gene Clark. Clark explains his efforts in designing solutions for dredging materials storage issues and for dealing with mysterious corrosive growths that are appearing on steel pilings in Lake Superior harbors. Clark's ingenious work is a testament on how water resources experts can substantially contribute to maintaining real sustainability and resilience for the communities that rely on Lake Superior.

David Hart, the Geographic Information Systems Specialist and Coastal Community Specialist for the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, and Sarah Wilkins, a graduate student working with David, share how they are using an innovative synthesis of information from satellite, aerial, and ground sources to create a roadmap for adaptive management of the coastal areas of Lake Superior. Their detective work is creating a robust resource that measures land intensity, a combination of nuanced knowledge regarding land use and land cover that will enable all stakeholders in Lake Superior’s sustainability establish resilient strategies for dealing with the environmental challenges of the future.

The uniquely preserved shipwrecks of Lake Superior have become a historical resource for the state, as well as a recreational magnet for sport divers. Hear the chilling tale of the sinking of the Lucerne, and listen while underwater archeologists Tamara Thomsen and Keith Meverden share their passion for this fascinating field, explain its scientific and historical significance, and solve the mystery of the Lucerne's final hours.

The area around the Apostle Islands National Seashore comprises one of the most beautiful, and surprisingly least well-known, regions of Wisconsin. Hear some highlights from an Apostle Islands cruise, and listen to graduate student Josh Anderson speak about new technology Sea Grant has helped fund, which is working to save lives and enhance the recreational enjoyment of the Apostle Islands.

The series kicks off with a descriptive background of Lake Superior and an overview of Sea Grant's research efforts regarding the lake. Sea Grant director Jim Hurley shares his insights on the importance of Lake Superior for Wisconsin, the important contribution of graduate students to these efforts, and some personal stories about the intrinsic and inspirational qualities of this greatest of the Great Lakes.

This Oxford at Said seminar was dedicated to the subject of oceans. Three researchers from the University of Oxford cover the topics oceans and the impact of climate change, understanding ocean ecology and how to generate energy from the tides. All life comes out of the ocean and is connected with the ocean. Over 70 per cent of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans earning planet earth the nick name the blue planet. Life within the sea evolved 3 billion years prior to life on land, yet much of the its ecology and life therein remains unexplored and hitherto poorly understood. Oceans also have a significant effect on the biosphere. Oceanic evaporation is the source of most rainfall, and ocean temperatures determine climate and wind patterns on land. In economic terms the seas are essential to transportation, energy production and provide a significant percentage of the world's protein. Yet, they are not limitless and many problems, such as overexploitation and pollution, have brought some marine ecosystems close to collapse.