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On 1 September, I was appointed a Faculty Fellow of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. The center focuses on hazard analysis, disaster recovery, hazard mitigation, and hazard preparedness using interdisciplinary approaches. I have been fortunate to work with several faculty in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning within the College, using modeling to provide flooding depictions and evaluations of proposed green infrastructure installations. I look forward to continuing and deepening my involvement with those in the Center.

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Ma for the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation “Statistical-Deterministic Modeling of Long-Term Future Hurricane-Induced Hazards with Climate Change.” He is now a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr. Michelle Hummel in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.

This article regarding the drilling of flood tunnels to mitigate Houston’s flooding problem appeared in the Conversation.

Yu Jiang, a Master of Engineering student from our group who graduated in 2018, is presently a Ph.D. candidate in the Haslam School of Business at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN, majoring in Business Analytics. After graduation in May 2025, she will start as an Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences  in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics at California State University, Sacramento.

While she took a very different path from engineering, her achievement is no less notable, and thus equally worthy of celebration. Congratulations, Yu!

A recent paper with group alumnus In-Chul Kim, “Application of a consistent nonlinear mild-slope equation model to random wave propagation and dissipation,” earned an Editor’s Choice designation for Volume 150, issue 6 of the ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering.

Dr. Navid Tahvildari, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, has moved to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University in Miami, FL, beginning Spring 2025. He moves to his new position as an Associate Professor. He graduated from the group in December 2011.

In addition, Dr. In-Chul Kim has moved from his postdoctoral position in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, to a new position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering at Pukyong University in Busan, Republic of Korea. He graduated from the group in May 2022.

Congratulations to Drs. Tahvildari and Kim!

The culmination of a four year project between Texas A&M University and the Environmental Defense Fund can be seen here. The site shows the vulnerability of communities and facilities in the Houston area to the impacts of flooding (hurricane surge, riverine, and rainfall) and contaminant transport. The site also describes the use of nature-based solutions to mitigate these impacts. This work was supported by the National Academies through the Healthy Gulf program.

If you are a former student in my research group, and want to update or correct your entry on the People page, please let me know and I will change it.

Dr. Navid Tahvildari, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University, appeared in a recent short film regarding a flood control project in Norfolk, VA. The film was produced by WHRO Public Media. Dr. Tahvildari was the first Ph.D. graduate from this research group, defending his dissertation on surface-interfacial wave interactions in 2011.

The College of Engineering wrote a story on the post-Hurricane Ian damage survey work in Ft Myers FL.