Author: megansam@ufl.edu

It’s a wrap, folks A huge congratulations to four of our students in the environmental engineering sciences department on successfully defending their dissertations and becoming Dr. Hallie Fishman, Dr. Sara Swaminathan and Dr. Sydney Williams and to Yvanna Serra, for successfully defending her master’s thesis! What an incredible culmination of these students’ hard work, ingenuity, tenacity and grit.  Take […]

The sway of plants caused by the flow of water resembles a dance to graduate student Katie Schoenberger, who is researching how this movement can affect the growth and removal of algae in Florida’s springs. Excessive algae growth in many of the state’s springs have rendered blue, pristine bodies of water green and coated in […]

Nearly 900 million people live in low-lying coastal zones around the world and bear the brunt of impacts from more frequent and severe hurricanes, flooding and rising sea levels. Early warning systems play a critical role in saving lives and preventing loss and damage to property from coastal hazards such as hurricanes, flooding and rising sea levels.  Zhe Jiang, Ph.D., CCS affiliate and associate professor in the University of Florida’s Computer and Information […]

In August, we celebrated the graduation of four outstanding students from UF’s Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences and the Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS). Hallie Fischman, Yvanna Serra, Sara Swaminathan and Sydney Williams are all set to continue their exciting journeys in research. Whether they’re pursuing Ph.D. studies, stepping into faculty roles, or diving into […]

Growing up along Florida’s coast, Jack Parker experienced several hurricanes that affected his family’s life. Two of these storms, Dennis in 2005 and Michael in 2018, caused a great amount of damage to his home, and led to several days without power followed by weeks of cleaning up. These experiences made Parker want to contribute to […]

In a groundbreaking study published today in Nature, scientists reveal that the return of sea otters to their former habitat in a Central California estuary has slowed erosion of the area’s creekbanks and marsh edges on average by 69%. The resurgence of these charismatic marine mammals — also some of the habitat’s top predators — […]

In May, the UF Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS) launched its newest research vessel, the “R/V Rogow,” on its maiden voyage to haul more than 20 yards of sediment as part of a marsh restoration project in St. Augustine, Florida. The boat, named in honor of Bruce and Winnie Rogow, was made possible through their […]

As the world experiences more frequent and intense weather and climate events, robust models that predict how people behave before, during and after these extreme events are important for developing effective emergency response strategies. Increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) is being incorporated into these models yet we don’t understand how most AI models make decisions, because […]

Mud shapes life on Earth and regulates the planet’s climate by storing and cycling carbon. In a study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists from the University of Florida and eight other institutions found that human actions are altering the journey of mud, which has implications for understanding past changes in climate and what future scenarios might […]

The power of positive interactions in nature and networks A year ago, our center volunteered to host the first Network for Engineering With Nature (N-EWN) 2024 Partner Symposium here in the Sunshine State. Last week, we welcomed 170 participants to St. Augustine from around the country for two-days of productive exchanges around nature-based solutions (NBS), a field that is […]