Assistant Professor
Matthew Bilskie is an Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. Matt holds a BS and MS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Central Florida and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University. Matt’s research interests include hurricane storm surge modeling for present and future conditions, real-time flood inundation forecasting, developing new methods to assess compound floods, communication with decision-makers, and natural- and nature-based feature implementation and assessment. Matt can be found with his wife, 4-year and newborn sons during his free time, managing his turf grass and garden, grilling and smoking various meats, golfing, swimming, and hiking.
Post-Doc
Aditya is a Research Associate at the University of Georgia as a part of the group “Network for Engineering with Nature (N-EWN)” initiated by UGA’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS), and USACE’s Engineering with Nature (EWN). Aditya holds a joint PhD in Civil Engineering from IIT Bombay and Monash University (Australia). He has experience in fluid-structure interactions and extreme engineering. His current professional interests include hydrodynamic and morphodynamic modeling of riverine and coastal systems. He loves exploring different countries, their culture and cuisines. He is also a bibliophile and always on the lookout to shop for the new and old books.
PhD Student
Nashid is a Graduate Research Assistant. She holds a BS and an MS degree in Civil Engineering from two different public Engineering universities in Bangladesh. From a very early age, Nashid started carving her dreams of following in her father’s footsteps. His home-schooling with Nashid inspired her to work in the field of Environmental Engineering. After graduation, she worked in Bangladesh’s high-risk disaster-prone coastal areas. She felt a dire need to uplift her skills to gain a better understanding of building resilience in coastal communities, forecasting floods, and learning context-specific engineering techniques to add value to the betterment of people affected by climate-related disasters. Besides studying, Nashid loves to spend time with her family and friends. She enjoys looking after her houseplants and experimenting with new recipes.
PhD Student
Lina is a Graduate Research Assistant. She holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and an MSc in Water Science and Engineering with a specialization in Flood Risk Management from IHE Delft, Netherlands. Her interests include disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, flood modeling under different climate change scenarios, compound floods, flood forecasting, and nature-based solutions. She enjoys studying the socio-economic impacts of floods and their relationship with culture and risk perception worldwide. Lina enjoys sharing quality time with her family and friends in her free time, camping, hiking, and traveling. She has lived in multiple countries and hopes to continue learning from different cultures and their perspectives on life and flood risk.
PhD Student
Becca is a Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering with an emphasis in Resilient Infrastructure Systems. Becca graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering in May 2021 and a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering in December 2022 – both from the University of Georgia. Becca’s primary interests are nature-based infrastructure, hydrology, coastal processes, and numerical modeling. In her free time, she can be found tending to her pet frogs, bioactive vivarium, garden, and 50+ houseplants, playing with her cats and dog, embroidering, reading, or cleaning.
MS Student
Bobby is from Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from The University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering. His interest in water and its engineering challenges led him to pursue his Master’s degree and become involved in coastal research. Bobby specifically studies wave runup using the XBeach model and conducts field experiments on the Georgia coast. In his free time, Bobby loves to explore the outdoors, try local restaurants, and cheer on his favorite sports teams.
MS Student
Caraline graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology. At Tulane, she studied coastal ecology, specifically marsh resilience to sea level rise with a focus on the Gulf Coast. This led to an interest in environmental engineering and its connections to ecology, climate change resilience, and environmental justice. Her Master’s thesis focuses on the effects of storm surge on barrier island morphology, and entails forecasting future morphological conditions under several sea level rise scenarios and quantifying the uncertainty of these forecasted values. Caraline grew up near Annapolis, Maryland and in her free time enjoys a good book, biking, baking, and coaching gymnastics.
MS Student (Co-Advised with Dr. Brock Woodson and the COBIA Lab).
Ada is from Anambra State in Nigeria and studied at the University of Nigeria, where she acquired her first degree in Civil Engineering. Her undergraduate thesis focused on environmental sustainability and greatly led her to further her education in Environmental Health Engineering (Masters Program). Ada is now at UGA doing her research on Natural Infrastructure Systems and Biodiversity. When not on her desk working, she watches Sit coms, singing, cleaning, or sleeping.
MS Student (Co-Advised with Dr. Mark Risse)
Oscar Villegas is a graduate research assistant with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from Francisco Jose de Caldas District University in Colombia. Oscar’s background in environmental consulting assessments sparked his interest in coastal engineering and hydrology analysis. His areas of interest are sediment transport analysis, nature-based solutions, and sustainable dredged sediments for natural infrastructure.
Oscar enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, and he is an amateur mountain biker and open water swimmer.
MS Student
Grant Bilderback, a Graduate Research Assistant from Alpharetta, Georgia, graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering in 2022. Grant sustains interests in meteorology, having interned at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia, as well as energy and power. Grant first served as an undergraduate research assistant for COAST for the summer of 2021, developing a passion for water and coastal infrastructure. Grant modeled and designed a beach restoration and protection project for his undergraduate senior design project along the coast of Choctaw Beach in Florida. Outside of Coastal Engineering, Grant has passions for snow-skiing, hiking, traveling, and swimming, along with being a “Die-hard” Atlanta Braves and Georgia Dawgs fan.
Sarah Moore, Spring-Summer 2022
Kendall Lippe, Spring-Summer 2022
Hannah Lim, Spring-Summer 2022
Hannah Center, Summer 2022
(current affiliation)
Sheppard Medlin, MS Student, 2020-2022 (AECOM, Charleston, SC)
Dr. Felix Santiago-Collazo, Research Scientist, 2021-2022 (Assistant Professor, University of Georgia)
Dr. Viyaktha Hithaishi Hewageegana, Post-Doc, 2021 (Post-Doc, University of Florida)
