The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA) announced recipients of its annual Coastal Science Assistantship Program (CSAP).
CSAP enables faculty members of Louisiana institutions to fund Master of Science students enrolled full-time at Louisiana colleges and universities who are involved in research relevant to Louisiana coastal protection and restoration efforts.
The following students were awarded Coastal Science Assistantships in 2021: Omar Alawneh, LSU. “Quantifying Geotechnical Properties and Processes in the Fort St. Phillip Crevasse Complex: Implications to Sediment Diversions,” working with Navid Jafari, PhD; Robert Feder, 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,” working with John White, PhD; Skylar Liner, LUMCON. “Can ribbed mussels augment coastal restoration projects in a world of rising seas?” working with Brian Roberts, PhD; Sherif Mostafa, Tulane “Quantifying sediment retention and morphologic evolution in the Fort St. Phillip Crevasse Complex: Implications to sediment diversions,” working with Ehab Meselhe, PhD.
The faculty members for the 2022 Coastal Science Assistantship program were recently selected and are seeking Masters students to fund with their awards. The following faculty members were selected: Jay Wang, Louisiana Tech. “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”; Madeline Foster-Martinez, University of New Orleans. “How do physical properties of vegetation (i.e., shape, height, stem width, branching, flexibility, etc.) modify the in-situ flow and sediment regime”; Paul Leberg, University of Louisiana at Lafayatte. “Assessing resiliency of coastal seabird communities following coastal restoration and hurricane disturbance”; Saberethinam Kameshwar, LSU. “Hurricane vulnerability of aboveground storage tanks in coastal Louisiana”.
The CPRA awards, which fund a three-year period of study, are intended to support academic research that will improve the planning, design, and construction of coastal restoration projects. In addition, these assistantships help CPRA foster closer ties with the academic community and promote a platform for collaboration by developing relationships with students, professors, and universities.
