Alireza wins Student Educational Award

Ph.D. student Alireza Gharagozlou won the Student Educational Award at the ASBPA National Coastal Conference 2018. This award is given annually to an undergraduate or graduate student who, through his or her research, is furthering the state of the science of coastal systems as it relates to the goals and mission of the ASBPA. Congrats to Alireza!

Alireza accepts the Student Educational Award during the awards luncheon at the ASBPA National Coastal Conference.

Conference: ASBPA Coastal Conference 2018

A Gharagozlou, JC Dietrich, A Karanci, MF Overton, RA Luettich Jr. “Erosion and Inundation of Hatteras Island at Dune- and Region-Scales During Hurricane Isabel.” ASBPA 2018 National Coastal Conference, Galveston, Texas, 31 October – 2 November 2018.

Celebration for Rosemary Cyriac

Members of the NCSU coastal engineering team celebrating the successful PhD defense by Rosemary Cyriac.

News: Post-Florence Field Observations

2018/10/10 – NCSU Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
CCEE Researchers respond rapidly to Hurricane Florence

Much of the North Carolina coast is lined with sandy beaches and dunes, which can erode during storms, allowing sand onto major roadways and floodwaters into communities. To develop predictions for this erosion and its effects on infrastructure, it was critical to collect observations shortly after the storm. A multi-disciplinary team led by Dr. Elizabeth Sciaudone traveled to Dare County to collect time-sensitive data at Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Pea Island, and Hatteras Island. Working in conjunction with the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), the Center for Geospatial Analytics in the College of Natural Resources, and industry partner SenseFly, researchers surveyed beach and dune changes. Real-Time Kinematic GPS equipment was used to survey select cross-shore beach and dune profiles and document the extent of dune erosion and overwash (inland sand deposits), such as when NC Highway 12 becomes covered after large storms.

Presentation: NC Sea Grant Site Review

JC Dietrich, R Cyriac, A Thomas, A Gharagozlou, N Tull, BO Blanton, JG Fleming, RA Luettich, MF Overton. “Predictive Models for Coastal Hazards.” NC Sea Grant Site Review, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2-4 October 2018.

Presentation: PREEVENTS PI Meeting

AB Kennedy, D Bolster, D Wirasaet, JC Dietrich+, A Begmohammadi, TJ Sherman, Z Silver, A Gharagozlou, A Poisson, JL Woodruff. “Subgrid-Scale Corrections to Increase the Accuracy and Efficiency of Storm Surge Models.” NSF PREEVENTS PI Meeting, Alexandria, Virginia, 20-21 September 2018.

Presentation: NSF Workshop 2018

JC Dietrich, R Cyriac, A Thomas, A Gharagozlou, N Tull. “How Can We Speed Up Our Coastal Flooding Models?” NSF Workshop on the Future of Coastal and Estuarine Modeling, Raleigh, North Carolina, 18-21 June 2018.

CCHT Joins COPRI Field Trip to Wilmington-Area Beaches

CCHT members led the annual field trip by the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) student chapter at NC State University. The chapter traveled to Wilmington, NC, over two days to visit beaches from Ocean Isle to Kure through Wrightsville. The students learned about beach management practices from Greg Williams and his team at the Wilmington District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as from NC Sea Grant extension specialist Spencer Rogers.

During the first day of the visit, the students visited an active dredge as it finished a beach nourishment project on Ocean Isle. The tour included a visit onto the dredge to learn how it operates, and also to the beach to see how the pumping is controlled and how the sand is worked to meet the design specifications. During the second day, the students visited several beaches closer to Wilmington to learn about terminal groins, nourishment projects, inlet stabilization, and construction practices.

This was the second annual field trip for the COPRI student chapter. During the 2017-2018 academic year, CCHT members served as President (Nelson Tull), Vice President (Rosemary Cyriac), and Treasurer (Alireza Gharagozlou).

Students preparing to board the dredge near Ocean Isle, during the 2018 COPRI field trip.

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