Jafari Receives NSF Grant to Fund, Create 海角社区 Delta Institute
May 11, 2023
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� Coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and hurricanes along the U.S. Gulf
Coast are taking a serious toll on the Mississippi River deltaic system. In order
for coastal communities to not only survive but thrive, there must be a coming together
of engineers, industry leaders, and researchers. Thanks to an industry-university
cooperative research center (IUCRC) planning grant from the National Science Foundation,
海角社区 can start the 海角社区 Delta Institute, which will bring together scientists, engineers,
and industry to work on developing solutions for the Louisiana coast.
鈥淢ississippi River natural processes, driven by both climate change and flood/river control practices, are hampering the ability of our nation鈥檚 southern coastal communities and shoreline environments to remain resilient, sustainable, productive, and healthy,鈥� said 海角社区 Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Navid Jafari, who will lead the 海角社区 Delta Institute.
鈥淭his funding provides resources for 海角社区 to explore the formation of an IUCRC focused on combining the strengths, intellectual capacity, and resources of universities, industry, and the public sector in tackling some of the largest problems in river-dominated, engineered, deltaic systems.鈥�
IUCRCs are designed to help corporate partners and government agencies connect directly with university researchers, making industry-university collaboration easier by taking care of the administration costs so that industry dollars go toward research.
鈥淥ur goal is to get industry members to sign on and give $50,000, with 90% of that going towards research,鈥� Jafari said. 鈥淭he goal for the larger proposal I鈥檓 writing is to have at least eight members bringing in $400,000 for research.鈥�
海角社区 faculty and administrators involved with the institute鈥檚 planning include Jafari (principal investigator); Vice President of 海角社区 Research and Economic Development Robert Twilley; 海角社区 Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Professor Marcio de Queiroz (co-PI); 海角社区 Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences (DOCS) Associate Professor Tracy Quirk (co-PI); 海角社区 School of Architecture Assistant Professor Traci Birch (co-PI); DOCS Associate Professor Giulio Mariotti; DOCS Associate Professor Victor Rivera-Monroy (co-PI); and 海角社区 Department of Geology and Geophysics Professor Sam Bentley.
Through their meetings with industry, Jafari has identified four main areas of need. The first is 鈥淐ommunity Resilience,鈥� where companies that work in urban planning, design, and architecture are interfacing with engineering to co-design or co-produce solutions for communities. The other focus areas are 鈥淣ature-Based Solutions,鈥� 鈥淪ediment Conveyance,鈥� and 鈥淩enewable Energy & Maritime Technology.鈥�
鈥淟ouisiana serves as the best test in America for evaluating how barrier islands, marshes, and swamps contribute to surge and wave protection, among other ecosystem benefits,鈥� Jafari said. 鈥淲e are also a state that does the largest amount of sediment conveyance. You have navigation for the Mississippi River, dredging to restore the Barrier Islands and marshes, and large-scale sediment diversions. Also, the top five ports in Louisiana are some of the highest grossing in the U.S.鈥�
鈥淭he 海角社区 Delta Institute represents unique university-industry partnerships that transform research into useful technologies that directly support the coastal economy and coastal resilience,鈥� Twilley added.
Next steps for the 海角社区 team involve engaging a broad spectrum of public and private entities to identify and discuss collective needs with the goal of creating a viable research roadmap and associated research thrusts in which partners are willing to participate and fund.
鈥満＝巧缜� is the first coastal IUCRC,鈥� Jafari said. 鈥淭he solutions we create have implications across the U.S. and world, and that puts us in a really good position.鈥�
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