R. Wayne Wagner

Professor of Practice

River-Coastal Science and Engineering
Office Address
606 Boggs Hall
School of Science & Engineering
CV
Wagner CV (86.13 KB)
Headshot

Education & Affiliations

Post-doctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Orleans, 2018-2022
Post-doctoral Researcher, Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin 2012-2017
Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2012
M.S, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2007
M.S., Secondary Math Education, University of New Orleans, 2006
B.S., Civil Engineering, Auburn University, 2000

Areas of Expertise

Fluid mechanics
Physics
Statistics
Hydrology

Biography

 I am a professor of practice in the Department of River and Coastal Science and Engineering. My educational interests focus on teaching new ways to think. Over two decades of teaching, I have taught numerous classes (and taken quite a few more) and the best all focus on the students' cognitive development. Students always ask how they'll use specific facts, and I believe that they often will not use them. However, within a given discipline, the best educators teach how to think, analyze, and synthesize. These skills are useful, regardless of the student's future.

Courses

Water Resources Engineering 1 (Fluid Mechanics)
Water Resources Engineering 2 (Hydraulics)
Water Resources Engineering 3 (Hydrology)
Gulf Coast in 2100

Research

My scientific interests center on physical processes in natural water and how they affect the biological and human systems which rely on them. I don't research any more, but I do enjoy thinking on it! After doing undergraduate work in civil engineering at Auburn University and getting a master's degree in secondary math education at the University of New Orleans, my curiosity drove me into academia. I studied California's complex Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under Mark Stacey at Berkeley (for grad school) and Louisiana's beautiful Wax Lake Delta under David Mohrig at the the University of Texas at Austin (for a postdoc). My graduate training specifically focused on environmental fluid mechanics, but I branched out into statistics, geomorphology, and remote sensing, among other fields. I enjoy a good problem, great colleagues, and a better world.

Contributions