UF Center for Coastal Solutions

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UF Center for Coastal Solutions

Delivering advanced coastal intelligence and decision aids for resilience.

08/25/2026

Did you know? Peat can develop rapidly beneath maturing mangrove forests.

Join us Sept. 2 for the first Water, Wetlands, and Watersheds Seminar of the fall semester with Mike Osland, Ph.D., research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Wetland and Aquatic Research Center.

Osland will share research on 25 years of ecosystem change in maturing mangrove forests and the rapid development of peat beneath them.

📅 Sept. 2 from 11:45 AM to 12:35 PM ET
📍 Phelps Lab 101 (University of Florida for in-person attendance)
💻 Livestream available at https://www.youtube.com//streams

08/24/2026

Congratulations to Teagan Duenkel on beginning her Department of Defense SMART Scholarship with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)!

This summer has already been a busy one. Teagan recently visited the ERDC Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory and the I-ATLAS facility in Mississippi, where she learned about the cutting-edge research and technology used to study our coasts.

She also completed the first chapter of her Ph.D. fieldwork at Matanzas Beach, Florida. She's working alongside Dr. Justin Shawler (ERDC), fellow SMART Scholar Copeland Cromwell and undergraduate researcher Mateo Vaquero. The team collected sediment cores and ground penetrating radar data to better understand how elevated water levels move sediment across barrier islands.

Congratulations, Teagan! We can't wait to see where your research takes you.

Photo 1: Teagan standing in front of an old WWII plane converted to a lidar surveying plane.
Photo 2: A wave tank at CHL Vicksburg.
Photo 3: Copeland Cromwell and Teagan collecting a sediment core from the washover fan at Matanzas Beach.

08/21/2026

In 1973, Howard T. Odum (pictured) started the Wetland Seminar at the University of Florida. This fall, we continue that tradition with another great lineup of speakers and topics for the Water, Wetlands, and Watersheds Seminar (W3).

Seminars will be a combination of in-person and livestreamed via YouTube and Zoom and will take place once a month from 11:45 a.m. to 12:35 p.m., ET at UF’s Phelps Lab 101.

The first seminar will take place on September 2 with Dr. Mike Osland from the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Osland is a research ecologist who will speak about how maturing mangrove forests can rapidly build peat.

See the fall lineup in the graphic or visit https://cfw.essie.ufl.edu/seminars/.

08/19/2026

CCS student Juan Torres spent part of his summer conducting fieldwork in Kachemak Bay near Homer, Alaska.

Juan worked with colleagues from the University of Alaska Fairbanks under the direction of Dr. Steven Dykstra. Juan helped collect data for a project studying the estuarine processes that increase water turbidity and limit airborne topobathymetric green LiDAR mapping.

Take a look at these great photos from his time in Alaska!!

08/18/2026

How will climate change affect the storm surge barriers protecting coastal communities around the world?

Join us for the next CCS Monthly Forum featuring Dr. Ivan Haigh and Dr. Thomas Wahl from the UCF National Center for Integrated Coastal Research.

Their talk, “The Silent Protectors: The Challenges Facing Storm Surge Barriers with Climate Change,” will explore how rising seas and changing storm patterns are forcing storm surge barriers to close more frequently and what that could mean for how these critical structures are managed, maintained and operated in the future.

📅 August 20
🕑 2–3 PM (Please note the time change!)
📍 Weil Hall, Room 365C, 1949 Stadium Road, Gainesville, FL 32611
🔗 Join: https://m.youtube.com//streams

08/17/2026

Please help us welcome Abby Worth to the UF Center for Coastal Solutions!

Abby is one of our newest Research Fellows and will be working with Dr. David Kaplan to better understand and manage Florida's coastal wetlands through field research and spatial analysis.

Her journey into coastal research started with an undergraduate internship studying mangrove ecology in Miami, where she discovered she could turn her love of the coast and the outdoors into a career.

A fun fact about Abby? She grew up exploring the Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. So while the mountains were her first playground, Florida's coasts have become her passion.

We're excited to have Abby as part of the CCS community. Welcome to the Gator Nation! 🐊

08/12/2026

Welcome, Evan, to the UF Center for Coastal Solutions!

Evan Heeg is one of the newest UF/CCS Research Fellows! Evan will work with Dr. Nina Stark, whose research focuses on marine geotechnics and coastal engineering. Evan says that growing up in Florida sparked his interest in changing sea levels, from geologic history to today's rising seas. As a UF/CCS Research Fellow, he'll explore how marine geotechnics can help coastal communities adapt to sea level rise in the decades ahead.

When he's not doing research, Evan enjoys running, lifting, swimming, playing guitar, going to concerts, and spending time with his dog, Olivia. 🐕

Welcome to the , Evan! 🐊

08/10/2026

Meet Jacob Tweddle, a UF Center for Coastal Solutions Research Fellow!

Jacob will work with Dr. Timothy Townsend, researching ways to contain PFAS in solid waste streams to help keep these contaminants out of coastal ecosystems.

Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking and bartending for friends.

Welcome to the Gator Nation, Jacob! 🐊🌊

08/05/2026

Dispatches from the Field | 2026 National Wetland Condition Assessment

Isabella Saldarriaga says that it has been great working outdoors in unpredictable environments. This is her report from the field.

🕷️ "One day you're brushing through vines, and the next day you're avoiding the spider webs! Sure, we have our aerial maps that give us a gauge for what to expect, like if we're dealing with a forested or scrub/shrub environment. But oftentimes, field observations differ from what you would get from a desktop."

🥾 "Not to mention, no one could have prepared me for the hiking and the muck! I have learned some handy skills in how to walk with stability on unstable terrain, including things like the cypress knees and rather large debris."

🌿 "All in all, I thoroughly enjoy inputting vegetation data and recognizing the common and uncommon wetland plant species."

Stay tuned for more Dispatches from the Field as we follow Florida's crew throughout the 2026 field season.

Pictured below is Isabella at Tate's Hell State Forest and Cypress knees in Volusia County, Florida

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