Each month, the N-EWN partners gather together to share updates on their work in and outside the Network. Meetings begin with a speaker or two from one of our partners to discuss their ongoing work, and then we hold a discussion period to ask questions about the presentation and share ideas with each other. This month, we heard from Mike Beck and Megan Kelso at UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR), Aditya Gupta from UGA’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS), and Ellis Kalaidijan from the Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC).
The UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience aims to lead the field of climate change mitigation on coasts by assessing risks, evaluating the benefits of nature and nature-based solutions (NbS), and identifying incentives to invest in NbS. Mike Beck, CCCR’s Director, pointed to the recent Hurricanes Helene and Milton to make their point: “The risks are real. They’re here now.” Part of CCCR’s work in this space is through partnerships with partners like USACE, as well as other organizations like The Nature Conservancy and Black In Marine Science (BIMS). Learn more about CCCR at their newly relaunched website!
The meeting’s second speaker also pointed to the recent hurricanes- Aditya Gupta is a postdoctoral research scientist at UGA IRIS and works on a number of hydrodynamics and morphodynamics projects. In this talk, Gupta reviewed the benefits of barrier islands and coastal marshes for protection against storm surge. He argued that it is critical to identify and quantify how individual features of shorelines can attenuate water levels and absorb waves, especially in the face of rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes.
Our monthly meetings normally have two speakers, but this time we had a bonus talk by Ellis Kalaidijan from USACE ERDC! Kalaidijan and colleagues at USACE specifically called for input from N-EWN’s community of NbS researchers, practitioners and stakeholders on a new project to evaluate NbS projects and support implementation.
The Network for Engineering With Nature holds gatherings, both virtually and in person, to facilitate the social dynamics of innovation among diverse organizations. This month’s speakers engaged the entire team with exciting NbS news, and a reminder why natural solutions are so important. Thank you to all of our speakers!
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