Grant sets up LSU Delta Institute

BATON ROUGE, La. - Coastal erosion and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast are taking a toll on the Mississippi River's deltaic system. In order for coastal communities to survive and thrive, there must be a coming together of engineers, industry leaders and researchers.

An industry-university cooperative research center (IUCRC) planning grant from the National Science Foundation, will allow LSU to start the LSU Delta Institute, which will bring together scientists, engineers, and industry to work on developing solutions for the Louisiana coast.

The Mississippi River's natural processes are "hampering the ability of our nation’s southern coastal communities and shoreline environments to remain resilient, sustainable, productive, and healthy,” said LSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Navid Jafari, who will lead the LSU Delta Institute. 

The funding provides resources for LSU to explore the formation of an IUCRC-focused on combining the strengths, intellectual capacity, and resources of universities, industry, and the public sector in tackling some of the largest problems in river-dominated, engineered, deltaic systems.”

IUCRCs are designed to help corporate partners and government agencies connect directly with university researchers, making industry-university collaboration easier by taking care of the administration costs so that industry dollars go toward research.

Jafari has identified four main areas of need: “Community Resilience,” where urban-planning firms to design and interface with engineering find solutions. The other focus areas are “Nature-Based Solutions,” “Sediment Conveyance,” and “Renewable Energy & Maritime Technology.” 

“Louisiana serves as the best test in America for evaluating how barrier islands, marshes, and swamps contribute to surge and wave protection, among other ecosystem benefits,” Jafari said. 

The next steps for the LSU team is to engage a broad spectrum of public and private entities to identify and discuss collective needs with the goal of creating a viable research roadmap and associated research thrusts in which partners are willing to participate and fund.

“LSU is the first coastal IUCRC,” Jafari said. “The solutions we create have implications across the U.S. and world, and that puts us in a really good position.” (LSU media release 06/22/23) Jafari Receives NSF Grant to Fund, Create LSU Delta Institute (einpresswire.com)