The Focused Coastline and People Research Hub at Texas A&M

A National Science Foundation Funded Project

The Focused Coastline and People Research Hub at Texas A&M is conducting research to help coastal communities prepare for coastal hazards. Researchers at Texas A&M University are leading this effort thanks to a five-year, nearly $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Learn more about the National Science Foundation’s CoPe program

Who is at Risk?

Coastal Hazards for Communities

Coastal communities increasingly experience acute and chronic hazards, such as hurricanes, flooding, rising sea levels, and erosion.
Enhancing community resilience to these hazards requires planning, effective use of community resources, and new knowledge.

Risks for Tribal Coastline Communities

Tribal communities along the Northern Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida, are particularly at risk. These communities are at heightened risk for multi-hazard damages. Coastal hazards can lead to the loss of historical and cultural properties, sites, or autonomous areas.

About the Coastlines and People Project

The Texas A&M Hub will lead fundamental research with five other universities in the U.S.

This transdisciplinary project will:

Integrate different disciplines through community-engaged research. Our research will combine anthropology, archeology, urban planning and engineering.
Establish and sustain effective partnerships with tribal communities. A systematic approach will promote trust to ensure the incorporation of community-driven research questions and decision-making.
Identify critical community needs, priorities, and concerns. Data and expertise will be collected at community events and through interviews, roundtables, and discussion forums.
Inform decision-making strategies and future hazard mitigation plans for marginalized communities. These science- and evidence-based strategies will be ready to implement.

Meet our Research Team

The Focused Coastline and People Research Hub at Texas A&M

Researchers at Texas A&M University are leading this effort thanks to a five-year, nearly $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

PI and CoPIs

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Maria Koliou

Lead PI, Assistant Professor

Dr. Koliou is an Assistant Professor at the Zachry Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at Texas A&M University. She joined the department after having been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NIST-funded Center of Excellence for Risk-based Community Resilience Planning at Colorado State University.
Maria’s Profile
Petros Sideris

Co-PI, Assistant Professor

Dr. Sideris is an Assistant Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Sideris’ research focuses on the assessment of existing structures through advanced computational simulations and experimental methods.
Petro’s Profile
Anand Puppala

Co-PI, Professor

Dr. Anand J. Puppala currently serves as A. P. Wiley and Florence Chair of Zachry Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and is an Interim Director of Center for Infrastructure Renewal (CIR) at Rellis Campus of TAMU.
Anand’s Profile
James Kaihatu

Co-PI, Professor

James Kaihatu is a Professor with the Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he has been since 2006. His primary expertise is in the theoretical analysis and numerical modeling of ocean surface gravity waves, including wind-wave generation, propagation over varying undersea topography, interaction with tidal currents, and dissipation along coastlines.
James’ Profile
Siyu Yu

Co-PI, Assistant Professor

Siyu Yu is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and a core faculty with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. Her experience spans land use, plan integration, and resilience issues in the United States and the Netherlands.
Siyu’s Profile
Jayur Mehta

Co-PI, Assistant Professor

Dr. Jayur Madhusudan Mehta is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Florida State University, specializing in the study of North American Native Americans, human-environment relationships, and the consequences of French and Spanish colonization in the Gulf South.
Jayur’s Profile
Stuart Nolan

Co-PI, Geospatial Analyst

Stuart’s professional career began in Cultural Resources Management (CRM) as an archaeologist. Stuart has extensive experience conducting cultural resources surveys, including maritime and remote sensing projects, and has participated in numerous data recoveries on both historic and prehistoric archaeological sites in terrestrial and marine environments.
Haizhong Wang

Co-PI, Associate Professor

Haizhong Wang is currently an Associate Professor of transportation engineering with the School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Haizhong’s Profile
Andrés González

Co-PI, Assistant Professor

Andrés D. González is an Assistant Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Rice University, and in Engineering from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia).
Andrés’ Profile
Michelle Meyer

Senior Personnel, Associate Professor

Dr. Michelle Meyer is the Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and an Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Department at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University (CSU).
Michelle’s Profile

Research Outcomes

The research outcomes are expected to be both transferable to other locations and scalable.

The proposed research will result in a diverse set of models and decision-making tools for measuring:

Coastal Hazards Impact
Infrastructure Damages
Evacuation Performance
Social Vulnerability
Performance of Planning Documents
Effectiveness of Climate Adaptation Strategies

Research Progress and Outcomes

Educational Outcomes

As part of the grant, the team will support a pipeline for high school students from tribal communities into and through graduate school. Students will visit the universities and researchers involved in the project and engage in various participatory data collection activities across the disciplines.
Undergraduates will work with the team as research assistants through summer and semester-long programs.