Coastal Science Assistantship Program (CSAP)

Background | Protocol | Requirements | Benefits | Priority Research Areas | Application | Selected Proposals | Student Bios | Contact

Selected Proposals

2023 Selected Proposals

• Thomas Douthat, LSU – Flooding, Migration and the Coastal Master Plan: Linking Small Areas and Regional Dynamics to Big Events, Long-term Stressors and Planning Processes
• Lei Wang, LSU – Cloud-based Implementation and Dissemination Tool for Long-term River Diversion and Land Restoration Assessment near the Mid-Barataria Basin in South Louisiana
• Jonathan M. Willis, Nicholls – Elucidating the Successional Trajectories of Louisiana Barrier Island Vegetation Communities through Data Mining

2022 Selected Proposals

• Madeline Foster-Martinez, UNO – How do Physical Properties of Vegetation Modify the In-situ Flow and Sediment Regime?
• Sabarethinam Kameshwar, LSU – Hurricane Vulnerability of Aboveground Storage Tanks in Coastal Louisiana
• Paul Leberg, ULL – Assessing Resiliency of Coastal Seabird Communities Following Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Disturbance
• Jay Wang, LaTech – Development of Design Criteria for the use of Articulating Concrete Mats and Geosynthetic Separator Fabric as Protective Features for Earthen Containment Dikes Exposed to Localized Wave Forces

2021 Selected Proposals

• Navid Jafari, LSU — Quantifying Geotechnical Properties and Processes in the Fort St. Phillip Crevasse Complex: Implications to Sediment Diversions
• Ehab Meselhe, Tulane — Quantifying Sediment Retention and Morphologic Evolution in the Fort St. Phillip Crevasse Complex: Implications to Sediment Diversions
• Brian Roberts, LUMCON — Can Ribbed Mussels Augment Coastal Restoration Projects in a World of Rising Seas?
• John R. White, LSU — The Effect of “Freshening” by Sediment Diversion Flow on the Porewater Salinity, Nutrient Availability and Water Quality Improvement Functions of Barataria Bay Marsh Soil

2020 Selected Proposals

• Mead Allison, Tulane — Sedimentary aspects of land-building in the Fort St. Phillip Crevasse Complex
• Giulio Mariotti, LSU — Mud settling velocity in Barataria Bay: A crucial (yet neglected) parameter for marsh evolution
• Tracy Quirk, LSU — Factors influencing subsurface wetland dynamics in coastal Louisiana: Implications for wetland response to sea-level rise and restoration
• Carol Wilson, LSU — Time-varying rates of organic and inorganic mass accumulation in Louisiana marshes and relation to sea-level change

2019 Selected Proposals

• Karen Luttrell, LSU — Quantifying variability in subsidence patterns related to seasonal surface loads across coastal Louisiana
• Marla Nelson, UNO — Planning for Population Loss in Coastal Louisiana
• Jay X. Wang, LaTech — Development of a standardized (American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM), repeatable, and consistent geotechnical laboratory testing procedure for the Low Stress Consolidation Test for the Marsh Fill
• Kehui Xu, LSU — Quantifying Erosional Process in Sediment Diversion Receiving Basins

2018 Selected Proposals

• Ioannis Y. Georgiou, UNO — Water and Sediment Fluxes in Restored and Unrestored Marsh Shorelines
• Navid H. Jafari, LSU — Comprehensive Sediment Balance of Marsh Creation Projects: From Hydraulic Dredging to Self-weight Consolidation
• John White, LSU — Determining Pre-project Wetland Soil and Estuarine Sediment Physical Properties and Phosphorus Cycling in the area of Influence of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion

2016 Selected Proposals

• Ioannis Y. Georgiou, UNO — Coupled Barrier Island and Shoreface Dynamics: A comprehensive understanding of coast-wide response to transgression
• Malay Ghose-Hajra, UNO — Development of a comprehensive engineering design tool to predict and evaluate long term performance of Louisiana coastal restoration and protection projects
• Navid H. Jafari, LSU — Predicting Subsurface Settlement of Marsh Creation Projects and Flood Protection Infrastructure in Coastal Louisiana
• Torbjörn Törnqvist, Tulane — Understanding Mississippi Delta subsidence by integrating continuous coring with geodetic methods

2015 Selected Proposals

• Mark Hester, ULL — Factors that determine patterns of wetland plant species zonation and productivity following sediment diversions
• Alexander Kolker, LUMCON — Subsidence patterns and processes in coastal Louisiana: A comprehensive approach
• Jay X. Wang, Louisiana Tech University — Soil binding ability of natural vegetation Spartina alterniflora established on dredged soils in Louisiana coastal area
• Y. Jun Xu, LSU — Determining sediment accretion and availability in the lowermost Mississippi River

2014 Selected Proposals

• Megan La Peyre, LSU — Water Filtration Capacity of Oyster Reefs in Coastal Louisiana
• Paul Leberg, ULL — Evaluation of Maximum Entropy Models for Assessing the Restoration Scenarios Influence on Coastal Wildlife Populations
• John R. White, LSU — Mechanisms for Persistent Oiling Stress on Coastal Marshes from the BP Oil Spill Event: Potential Impacts to Coastal Marsh Sustainability and Ecological Function
• Kehui Xu and Victor Rivera-Monroy, LSU — Sediment-Plant Interaction Studies to Benefit Coastal Protection and Restoration of Louisiana