Casey wins Outstanding Teacher Award

Casey Dietrich received the NC State Outstanding Teacher Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching at all levels across the university. Faculty members are nominated by their departments, and then finalists are recommended by their colleges. During 2017-2018, the award was given to 17 instructors, or less than 1 per 100 faculty members at NC State.

Recipients of the Outstanding Teacher Award become members of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers for as long as they remain NC State faculty. Recipients are recognized at the Teaching Awards Ceremony in the Spring, and their names are published in the NC State Bulletin and Commencement Program.

This is a great honor, and it reflects Casey’s hard work to implement active, team-based learning in the undergraduate course in fluid mechanics, as well as to establish a set of graduate courses in coastal engineering. He has enjoyed working with students at all levels at NC State.

Casey Dietrich accepts the award at the NC State Teaching Awards Ceremony, with (left) Rudi Seracino, Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs, and (right) Duane Larick, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Strategy and Resource Management.

Nelson and Ajimon win Student Poster Awards

MS student Nelson Tull won First Place in the Student Poster Competition at the EWC Research Symposium. Nelson described his research to enhance resolution of coastal flooding forecasts for decision support.

PhD student Ajimon Thomas won Honorable Mention. Ajimon described his research to quantify interactions between tides and storm surge along the U.S. southeast coast during Hurricane Matthew.

This event is an annual showcase for research in our Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal (EWC) engineering group, as well as a recruiting event for potential students. Awardees are selected by judges from other academic departments, government agencies, and consulting firms. Students presented their posters to judges and visitors during a poster session, and then finalists presented orally to the entire audience.

Congratulations to Nelson and Ajimon!

Nelson Tull shares his poster with judges at the 2018 EWC Research Symposium.

CCHT Visited by Dr. Scott Hagen

The CHHT hosted a visit by Dr. Scott Hagen from Louisiana State University. His research interests are in the computational modeling of coastal ocean circulation, including hazards such as storm surge and coastal flooding. During his visit, he met with faculty members and graduate students in the coastal engineering team at NC State.

Dr. Hagen was the keynote speaker at the EWC Research Symposium, which is an annual showcase for research in our Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal (EWC) engineering group, as well as a recruiting event for potential students. His presentation was “How to assess climate change impacts at the coastal land margin and product transdisciplinary research outcomes.”

It was great to connect with Dr. Hagen!

Scott Hagen answers a question after his keynote seminar at the 2018 EWC Research Symposium.

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CCHT Visited by Dr. Navid Tahvildari

The CCHT hosted a visit by Dr. Navid Tahvildari of Old Dominion University. His research interests include waves and wave-induced processes and storm surge and their interactions with sediments, aquatic vegetation, and infrastructure.

During his visit, he met with faculty members and graduate students in the coastal engineering team at NC State. He also presented in our EWC seminar series about “Nonlinear Dynamics of Surface Waves in Dissipative Environments.” It was great to connect with Dr. Tahvildari.

Dr. Navid Tahvildari starts his seminar during his visit to the CCHT.

Nelson wins Student Poster Award

MS student Nelson Tull won the Student Poster Award at the ASBPA National Coastal Conference 2017. This award is chosen by attendees from among all of the student posters and is reflective of both compelling research activities and excellent presentation skills.

Congratulations to Nelson!

Nelson Tull accepts the Student Poster Award during the awards luncheon at the ASBPA National Coastal Conference.

News: Summer Research Experience

2017/09/28 – DHS CRCoE
Students participate in second annual summer exchange program

Summer activities also included a one-day exchange where students from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in Charlotte, N.C., visited North Carolina State University (NCSU). Nine students enrolled in a summer research program led by Dr. Hang Chen visited the NCSU Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE), where CRC PI Dr. Casey Dietrich exposed the students to the concepts of computing-intensive and coastal resilience research.

The visiting students learned about the CCCE department, along with summer and graduate program opportunities. Dr. Dietrich arranged presentations and discussions with faculty members in their computing and system group. Ten faculty members presented their interdisciplinary research projects addressing problems throughout civil and environmental engineering using computational tools. The JCSU students also interacted with Dr. Dietrich’s graduate students and learned more about their individual research projects.

News: Storm Surge Impacts during Hurricane Irma

2017/09/14 – The Daily Tar Heel
Hurricane Irma lets North Carolina off easy

Casey Dietrich, an assistant professor at N.C. State University, said Hurricane Irma’s effects were relatively minor in coastal North Carolina because its track was so far away.

“Along the southeast coast between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, the wind speeds barely reached the cutoff for tropical-storm strength, 39 miles per hour, and only for a few hours,” he said.

Dietrich also works as a part of the Coastal Resilience Center, a group of universities, private companies and government agencies that are led by UNC. The CRC conducts research on the threats to coastal communities due to natural hazards and climate change.

News: Prediction of and Resilience Against Extreme Events

2017/09/12 – National Science Foundation
In wake of hurricanes … NSF awards $18.7 million in natural hazards research grants

In the decade from 2003 to 2013, natural disasters around the globe caused $1.5 trillion in economic damages and took the lives of almost 1.2 million people. Over that same 10-year period, the U.S. lost nearly $650 billion due to such disasters.

How can scientists better predict or prevent such catastrophes? How can they help people recover more quickly?

To find answers to these questions, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded 15 new grants totaling $18.7 million through its PREEVENTS (Prediction of and Resilience Against Extreme Events) program. PREEVENTS is part of NSF’s Risk and Resilience portfolio.

PREEVENTS’ goals are to improve predictability and risk assessments of natural hazards, increase resilience to these events, and reduce their effects on human lives, societies and economies. PREEVENTS also supports research that will improve the understanding of the processes underlying natural hazards and extreme events.