The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering proudly announces that eight of our faculty members have been honored with the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER Awards.
Sea otters’ homecoming to a California estuary shows payoff in conservation efforts
In a groundbreaking study published 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%.
Celebrating first-generation college students
Nov. 8 marks First Generation Day, as part of the University of Florida’s First-Generation college students’ weeklong celebration.
AI and Water Quality at UF AI Days
During UF AI Days from October 16-20, CCS researchers shared success stories in using artificial intelligence to enhance the speed and accuracy of water quality monitoring and coastal modeling. Associate Research Scientist Ron Fick, Ph.D. who co-led a panel on AI-driven advances in diverse fields, described the development of a new algorithm that fuses satellite data and field samples for …
Contaminated floodwaters could cost life and limb, warns UF engineer
Direct contact with flooding caused by hurricanes may lead to increased pathogens from different water systems that could result in the loss of limbs or even death, a University of Florida researcher told Newsweek.
Simmons selected as ASEE Fellow
Denise R. Simmons, Ph.D., PE, PMP, LEED-AP, was selected as a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) for Exemplary Contributions to Civil Engineering Workforce Development.
UF researcher: Floridians must “rise to the occasion” to fortify against impact of storms
David O. Prevatt, Ph.D., professor of Civil & Coastal Engineering, studied the damage caused by Hurricane Ian and said Floridians continue to be slow to make the changes needed to fortify themselves against the costly impacts of storms. “When we rise to the occasion, we learn from our failures,” he said. “I contend that our learning from failure in a context of wind hazards is too slow and the growth of housing — being built in very vulnerable areas — far exceeds our ability to do something about it.”
Understanding nature’s fury: UF researchers take their lab to the middle of the hurricanes
Forrest Masters, a civil engineer and interim dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, and his team take field data gathered during storms and compare it to wind tunnel modeling performed at UF’s Powell Family Structures & Materials Laboratory. With support from the National Science Foundation, UF is developing new tools that test hazardous winds on a variety of artificial landscapes inside the lab’s wind tunnel to help better understand how storms impact cities and towns.
CCS researcher developing AI model to predict harmful algal blooms in southwest Florida
Enrique Orozco Lopez, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS), spoke with FOX 4 Southwest Florida about the AI model he has been developing to better manage the water flow from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee River, with the goal of reducing the amount of released nutrients that produce harmful algal blooms.
Animal ecosystem engineers much stronger driver of salt marsh accretion than expected, study shows
Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research have shown that ecosystem engineering by mussels in Southeastern US salt marshes is a stronger driver of coastal ecosystems’ ability to keep pace with sea-level rise than expected.