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At the heart of the Center for Coastal Studies is an interdisciplinary and growing network of more than 45 Virginia Tech faculty from nine of Virginia Tech’s Colleges:

- College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
- College of Architecture & Urban Studies
- College of Engineering
- College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
- College of Natural Resources & Environment

- College of Science
- Pamplin College of Business
- Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Centers
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

These faculty represent the strength and breadth of expertise essential for comprehensively addressing complex challenges in the coastal zone.

We invite members of the Virginia Tech community with interest in joining the Center to contact us.

Anamaria Bukvic
Associate Director
ana.bukvic@vt.edu
540-231-2941
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, College of Natural Resources & Environment

Jennifer Irish
Associate Director
jirish@vt.edu
540-231-2298
Professor, The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering

Marie Paretti

Marie Paretti
Associate Director
mparetti@vt.edu
540-231-1812
Professor, Department of Engineering Education, College of Engineering

Liesel Ritchie
Associate Director
liesel14@vt.edu
540-231-8320
Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

Michael Schwarz

Michael Schwarz
Associate Director
mschwarz@vt.edu
757-727-4861
Director, Virginia Seafood AREC

headshot

Wendy Stout
wstout@vt.edu
Coastal Collaborator Center Manager, 
Coastal Resilience Extension Specialist

     

Sweta Baniya
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Department of English

baniya@vt.edu

Transnational Disaster Response


Crisis Communications


Community Engagement

Shannon Bell
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Sociology

sbell33@vt.edu
540-231-4445

Socio-political barriers to climate mitigation


Climate inequalities/injustice


Qualitative research methods

Sean Bemis
Research Scientist
College of Science
Geosciences

sbemis@vt.edu
540-231-5772

Active tectonics


Geomorphology


Drones and photogrammetry

Anamaria Bukvic
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

ana.bukvic@vt.edu
540-231-2941

Coastal Adaptation


Resilience


Relocation

Tanyel Bulbul
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Building Construction

tanyel@vt.edu
540-553-2140

Computational approaches


Building design


Construction

Ryan Calder
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Policy
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Population Health Sciences

rsdc@vt.edu

Probabilistic Risk Assessment


Water Quality Modeling


Statistical Analysis

Leandro Castello
Associate Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

leandro@vt.edu
540-231-5046

Fish


Fisheries


Conservation

Maggie Cowell
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Urban Affairs and Planning

mmcowell@vt.edu
571-858-3118

Community resilience


Economic development


Regionalism

Tom Crawford
Professor, Department Chair of Geography
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

tomc3@vt.edu
540-231-7216

Shoreline erosion


Vulnerability/resilience


Geospatial analysis

Sweta Baniya
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Department of English

baniya@vt.edu

Transnational Disaster Response


Crisis Communications


Community Engagement

Shannon Bell
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Sociology

sbell33@vt.edu
540-231-4445

Socio-political barriers to climate mitigation


Climate inequalities/injustice


Qualitative research methods

Sean Bemis
Research Scientist
College of Science
Geosciences

sbemis@vt.edu
540-231-5772

Active tectonics


Geomorphology


Drones and photogrammetry

Anamaria Bukvic
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

ana.bukvic@vt.edu
540-231-2941

Coastal Adaptation


Resilience


Relocation

Tanyel Bulbul
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Building Construction

tanyel@vt.edu
540-553-2140

Computational approaches


Building design


Construction

Ryan Calder
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Policy
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Population Health Sciences

rsdc@vt.edu

Probabilistic Risk Assessment


Water Quality Modeling


Statistical Analysis

Leandro Castello
Associate Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

leandro@vt.edu
540-231-5046

Fish


Fisheries


Conservation

Maggie Cowell
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Urban Affairs and Planning

mmcowell@vt.edu
571-858-3118

Community resilience


Economic development


Regionalism

Tom Crawford
Professor, Department Chair of Geography
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

tomc3@vt.edu
540-231-7216

Shoreline erosion


Vulnerability/resilience


Geospatial analysis

Ashley Dayer
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

dayer@vt.edu
540-231-8847

Conservation social science


Private lands


Wildlife conservation

Xinwei Deng
Associate Professor
College of Science
Department of Statistics

xdeng@vt.edu
540-231-5638

Fisheries


Evolution


Mathematical modeling

Tina Dura
Assistant Professor
College of Science
Geosciences

tinadura@vt.edu
540-231-3785

Coastal paleoseismology


Prehistoric tsunamis


Diatom paleoecology

Francesco Ferretti
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

ferretti@vt.edu
540-231-2893

Marine data science


Fisheries science


Marine ecology and conservation

Mark Ford
USGS VCFWRU Unit Leader
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

wmford@vt.edu
540-231-5927

Habitat Associations


Disturbance Ecology


Bats

Hosein Foroutan
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering

hosein@vt.edu
540-232-8400

Atmosphere-Ocean Interactions


Atmospheric Science and Air Quality


Environmental Fluid Mechanics

James Fraser
Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

fraser@vt.edu
540-231-6064

Coastal ecology


Shorebirds and seabirds


Endangered species


Fernando Gonçalves
Research Scientist
Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center

ocfernando@vt.edu
(757) 900-9914

Economics


Fisheries and aquaculture


Sustainability

Stanley Grant
Professor, Co-Director of Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory
College of Enginering
Civil and Environmental Engineering

stanleyg@vt.edu
703-361-5606 x 142

Water Quality and Water Supply


Environmental Science and Engineering


Hydrology

Elizabeth Hunter
Assistant Professor
Assistant Unit Leader
USGS VA Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit

ehunter1@vt.edu
540-231-2298

Ecological modeling


Conservation of birds and reptiles


Decision making in habitat management and conservation

Jennifer Irish
Professor
College of Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering

jirish@vt.edu
540-231-2298

Coastal engineering


Coastal hazards


Nature-based coastal infrastructure

Jun-Whan Lee
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Architectural and Environmental Engineering
 University of Texas, Austin

junwhanlee@austin.utexas.edu

Coastal Engineering


Coastal hazards


Machine learning

Jun-Whan Lee
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Architectural and Environmental Engineering
 University of Texas, Austin

junwhanlee@austin.utexas.edu

Coastal Engineering


Coastal hazards


Machine learning

Francesco Ferretti
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

ferretti@vt.edu
540-231-2893

Marine data science


Fisheries science


Marine ecology and conservation

Mark Ford
USGS VCFWRU Unit Leader
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

wmford@vt.edu
540-231-5927

Habitat Associations


Disturbance Ecology


Bats

Hosein Foroutan
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering

hosein@vt.edu
540-232-8400

Atmosphere-Ocean Interactions


Atmospheric Science and Air Quality


Environmental Fluid Mechanics

James Fraser
Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Fish and Wildlife Conservation

fraser@vt.edu
540-231-6064

Coastal ecology


Shorebirds and seabirds


Endangered species

Affiliated Faculty

Megan Rippy
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering

mrippy@vt.edu
703-361-5606 x112

Ecosystem services


Green stormwater infrastructure


Coastal water quality

Liesel Ritchie
Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Sociology

liesel14@vt.edu
540-231-8320

Societal Dimensions of Hazards and Disasters


Community Resilience


Technological Hazards and Disasters

Todd Schenk
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Urban Affairs and Planning

tschenk@vt.edu
540-231-1803

Climate adaptation planning


Stakeholder engagement and collaborative governance


Serious games to support engagement and deliberation

Stephen Schoenholtz
Professor, Director of Virginia Water Resources Research Center
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Virginia Water Resources Research Center

schoenhs@vt.edu
540-231-0711

Land use impacts on water and soil quality


Watershed management


Water education

Michael Schwarz
Director of Virginia Seafood AREC
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Virginia Seafood AREC

mschwarz@vt.edu
757-727-4861

Sustainability


Food production systems


Biofuel

Yang Shao
Associate Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

yshao@vt.edu
540-231-1867

Geospatial analytics


Land use/cover change


Decision support systems

Manoochehr Shirzaei
Associate Professor
College of Science
Geosciences

shirzaei@vt.edu
540-231-1867

Remote Sensing


Relative Sea-level Rise


Coastal Hazards

Julie Shortridge
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Biological Systems Engineering

jshortridge@vt.edu
540-231-2797

Climate change adaptation


Risk and decision analysis


Integrated systems modeling

Venkat Sridhar
Associate Professor
College of Engineering
Biological Systems Engineering

vsri@vt.edu
540-231-1797

Flood forecasting


Earth system modeling


Salinity impacts

Sarah Stamps
Associate Professor
College of Science
Geosciences

dstamps@vt.edu
540-231-3651

Subsidence


Numerical modeling


GPS

Susanna Werth
Associate Research Professor
College of Science
Geosciences

swerth@vt.edu

Terrestrial hydrology


Hydrogeodesy


Signal processing

Randolph H Wynne, Professor, Forest Res & Environ Conserv

Randolph Wynne
Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

wynne@vt.edu
540-231-7811

Applications of remote sensing to forestry


Natural resource management


Ecological modeling

Yang Zhang
Associate Professor
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Urban Affairs and Planning

yang08@vt.edu
540-231-1128

Disaster recovery


Hazards mitigation


Floodplain management

Stephanie Zick
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Geography

sezick@vt.edu
540-231-3434

Hurricanes


Rainfall


Weather forecast models

Christopher Zobel
R. B. Pamplin Professor
Pamplin College of Business
Business Information Technology

czobel@vt.edu
540-231-1856

Disaster resilience


Supply chain resilience


Humanitarian operations management