The Coastal & Ocean Engineering Program at Oregon State University is a leading center for research and education in coastal engineering and nearshore science. We have a critical mass of faculty and staff specializing in both physical/numerical modeling of coastal dynamics and also field observations. A short list of focus areas includes:

  • Nearshore hydrodynamics
  • Remote sensing of coastal areas
  • Turbulent sediment suspension and transport
  • Tsunami propagation and inundation
  • Wave-structure interaction

The Coastal & Ocean Engineering Program is also the home of the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory (WRL), one of the largest and technically most advanced laboratories for coastal research in the world. The ties between Coastal & Ocean Engineering and the WRL ensure that students will have access to state-of-the art facilities for research in coastal and ocean processes. In addition, since complex coastal problems require multidisciplinary solutions, Coastal & Ocean Engineering has ties to programs in the College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences (Marine Geology, Physical Oceanography), Geosciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science.

Coastal & Ocean Engineering faculty maintain active research programs, our main funding agencies are the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, Oregon Sea Grant, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The faculty members concentrating in Coastal & Ocean Engineering and their research interests are summarized below:

  • Dr. Daniel Cox - Sediment transport, surf zone turbulence and boundary layer processes. Design and performance of coastal structures
  • Dr. Merrick Haller - Remote sensing (x-band radar & optical) of nearshore breaking waves; wave modeling and shoreline response near complex bathymetric features; physical/numerical modeling of rip currents.
  • Dr. Tuba Ozkan-Haller - Numerical modeling of nearshore hydrodynamics and sediment transport.
  • Dr. David Hill - Experimental fluid mechanics, visual imaging techniques, wave mechanics and sediment transport, computational tidal modeling.
  • Dr. Harry Yeh - Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Water Wave Phenomena, Flow-Structure Interactions, Physical Processes in Lakes and Oceans, and Tsunami Hazard Mitigation.
  • Dr. Solomon Yim - Deterministic and stochastic modeling, analysis, simulation, and design of nonlinear dynamical fluid/structure systems; applications in structural, ocean and earthquake engineering.

The faculty's research efforts are augmented by visiting scholars, research assistants, and students. For more information about research projects and the coastal and ocean engineering research team, please visit the Wave Research Lab's website.