RCSE 4010/6010 Water Resources Engineering II
Instructor: Meselhe (3 credits)
This course covers the basic principles of flow in open channels, open channel transitions, pumping system (water and wastewater), flow through hydraulic structures, and drainage analysis. It also includes hydraulics of flow in closed conduits, and municipal water distribution systems. The laboratory section of this course focuses on flow measurements and non-uniform flow analysis: e.g., flow over a weir, hydraulic jump, losses through a pipe system, and flow visualization techniques. The class may be used by graduate students to learn or review the fundamentals of hydraulics (open channel and closed circuit) in preparation for RCSE 6710 Open Channel Flow or future advanced modeling classes. (Fall semester)
RCSE 4030/6030 – Water Resources Engineering III
Instructor: Molini (3 credits)
This course covers the basic principles of hydrology and their application to solving environmental and water resources engineering problems. The students are introduced to hydrological processes and their analysis through simple illustrative examples and ad-hoc developed tutorials. The themes discussed in the class include (a) hydrologic systems and processes (precipitation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and surface flows), (b) hydrologic measurements, (c) catchment properties, (d) hydrologic and hydraulic flow routing, (e) hydrological statistics and (f) frequency analysis. The students will be presented with design problems and real-world case studies of sustainable water resources management. (Spring semester)
RCSE 4040/6040 Coastal Marine Geology
Instructor: Allison (3 credits)
This course will survey the field of coastal marine geology by exploring the Quaternary to modern evolution of the zone extending from the lower continental margin to the inland limit of tidal penetration, including morphological characteristics and key identifiers of sedimentary environment, sedimentary strata formation, chemical and biological controls on sediment formation and preservation, and hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes active in the coastal zone. The course will consist of an introductory section that examines the overall characteristics of the margin, surveys marine sediment types and introduces the instrumentation utilized to study the margin, followed by a subenvironment-specific survey. (Fall semester, odd years)
RCSE 6710 Open Channel Flow
Instructor: Meselhe (3 credits)
This course covers the principles of open channel hydraulics, and their applications for analysis and design of river channels. Specifically, the course covers open channels classifications and properties, computation of uniform flow, steady gradually varied flow, flow over hydraulic structures (spillways, weirs, gates, culverts, syphons, and pumps), hydraulic jump, flow characteristics in meandering rivers and non-prismatic channels, and unsteady flow. Pre-requisite: Permission of instructor. (Spring semester, odd years)
RCSE 6800 – Introduction to River Science and Engineering (Fall 2023 and every Spring thereafter)
Instructors: Kleiss, Allison, Biedenharn, Burger, Killgore, Meselhe, and Molini (3 credits)
Rivers drain the majority of non-ice-covered land surfaces on Earth and are the primary conduit for freshwater, minerals, carbon, and dissolved ions to the global ocean. In the 21st century, rivers large and small are being increasingly managed for flood control, as a source and water (agricultural, industrial, potable) recreation and navigation, all of which have environmental consequences. Future basin and global-scale climate changes must also be considered in management decisions. This course is designed to be a graduate and advanced undergraduate interdisciplinary examination of river science and engineering practices that can serve as a springboard to more advanced coursework on the disciplinary aspects covered. It will cover a wide range of topics such as sediment continuity, nitrogen dynamics, aquatic habitat assessment, and numerical modeling and will benefit resource managers who require an interdisciplinary overview of river systems to more effectively perform their professional duties in installation management, planning, hydrology and hydraulics, or regulatory fields. (Spring semester)
RCSE 6802 – Introduction to Coastal Science and Engineering
Instructors: Dangendorf, Allison, Johnson, Kleiss, Killgore, Meselhe, and Molini (3 credits)
With approximately 3 billion people living within 200 kilometers of the world’s coastlines, coastal regions are home to a large and ever-growing population. A broad engineering knowledge is fundamental for the construction, protection, and maintenance of these coastal communities, and a good scientific understanding of the main underlying physical, chemical and ecological processes is particularly necessary considering the climatic changes we are facing in the 21st century. This course is designed to be a graduate and advanced undergraduate, interdisciplinary examination of coastal science and engineering practices that can serve as a springboard to more advanced coursework on the disciplinary aspects covered. It will also be useful to practitioners who require an interdisciplinary overview of coastal systems to more effectively perform their professional duties. (Fall semester)
RCSE 6810 – River and Stream Restoration
Instructors: Kleiss, Biedenharn, and Killgore (3 credits)
Rivers and streams are complex ecosystems which have interconnected geological, chemical and biological underpinnings. As the demands of human populations have increased over the past several centuries, rivers and streams have often been pushed beyond their ability to maintain the dynamic equilibrium inherent to the system. In recent decades, in an attempt to restore some of the values and functions to these systems, river and stream restoration has emerged as a multi-billion-dollar industry. This course will cover the definitions of river and stream restoration, discuss the planning process associated with solid restoration efforts, present restoration techniques, discuss environmental flows as restoration measures, present commonly applied design concepts and consider how uncertainty, monitoring and adaptive management may be applied to restoration efforts. The course will conclude with an opportunity for students to apply restoration concepts by developing an in-depth class presentation critiquing an existing river or stream restoration effort. (Spring semester, even years)
RCSE 6820 – River-Coastal Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling
Instructor: Meselhe (3 credits)
Numerical models are effective and informative research, design and planning tools. The substantial advancement in computational power has allowed numerical models to be a viable and efficient tool to solve complex problems and improve our understanding of the fundamentals in the water resources field. This introductory modeling course provides a general overview of the basics of numerical modeling, model development and applications, numerical modeling techniques and the ability to recognize the strengths and limitations of these techniques. It will include hands-on training on model applications to watersheds, streams, and large rivers. The course will conclude with an opportunity for students to develop their own code (or build upon existing and publicly available codes) and apply these tools to a natural system to examine a research, design or planning problem and explore ways that the model can provide usable information to answer research/science questions. (Spring semester, even years)
RCSE 6830 – River Mechanics and Management
Instructor: Biedenharn (3 credits)
This course introduces students to a wide range of topics related to the engineering and management of river systems. This includes an advanced examination of fluvial processes, channel stability concepts, sediment transport, geomorphic assessment tools, and stable channel design. Design considerations for commonly used engineering features such as bank stabilization, grade control structures, diversion structures, and other commonly used restoration features will be explored. While this class will necessarily involve some of the mathematics and theoretical underpinnings of river mechanics, this will not be a primary emphasis of the class. Rather, this class will focus on the practical application of river mechanics concepts, based both on government and corporate practice, and is tailored to a wide range of students, including engineers, planners, biologists, geologists and others interested in developing a broader understanding of river management. (Fall semester, even years)
RCSE 6840 – Methods in River Sampling
Instructors: Kleiss, Allison, Killgore, and Murphy (3 credits)
Tools and procedures developed for sampling and monitoring riverine systems over the last century are distinct from those developed for other aqueous environments. In addition to the need for tools tailored for systems of a wide range of size, energy, and setting, effective river monitoring also needs to capture highly episodic hydrographs that encompass large overbank areas during floods. River monitoring has profound implications in managing rivers for human use and for channel and riparian ecosystem health. Rivers are also highly sensitive to climate, and historical records of their behavior are a key indicator or changing climate on a basin and global scale. This course is designed to examine river sampling as conducted by agencies and academic researchers, including the use of remote sensing, and the collection of ecological, water chemistry, hydrological, sediment and morphological data sets. Historical data will be examined to define best practices of data analysis and statistical analytical procedures, and to examine the impact of evolving technology on the interpretation of river and stream records. As effective monitoring programs are an essential element of adaptive management, this course also will assist in the development of quality adaptive management plans. (Spring semester, odd years)
RCSE 6850 Estuarine Dynamics
Instructors: Berger and EEB faculty (3 credits)
Estuaries, where rivers meet the ocean, are among the most productive and dynamic systems on earth, and they are valued for recreation, habitat, and navigation. They are often located in areas with large populations, frequently resulting in intense competition for resources. This class will be taught to convey basic concepts that are important in estuary dynamics. It will include an introduction to estuarine ecology, descriptions of the generation of tides, tide wave propagation within the estuary, the role of salinity and density currents, estuarine sedimentation and an overview of navigation concerns. An emphasis will be placed on understanding the relationships between ecological and physical systems. The class will provide an understanding of ecosystem impacts as a result of physical changes in the estuary. Numerical models are the standard approach for investigating estuary behavior and will be used as a construct to understand estuaries, but prior knowledge of modeling is not required. (Spring semester, odd years)
RCSE 6860 Environmental Data Analysis in the Anthropocene
Instructors: Dangendorf and Molini (3 credits)
Scientists, engineers, and planners are increasingly faced with the challenges of a changing environment. These changes can be climate change related – and associated with factors such as sea-level rise, droughts, or heavy precipitation – or result from more local human overprints of the natural landscape (e.g., changes in land use, dredging of rivers, flood protection measures). But they all require, more than ever, tailored data analysis tools to capture transient behaviors, non-stationarity, and new equilibria. This class equips students with the probability, data, and time series analysis tools that they need to interpret a wide range of environmental data - from lab measurements to field observations. Theoretical concepts are demonstrated through a "hands-on" approach, using MATLAB (and R) scripting examples based on real-world data (e.g., river discharge, water level, rainfall depth). In this way, students are introduced to different methods to display and investigate data (spatially and temporally), verify statistical hypotheses, analyze stationarity, and identify statistical relationships between different variables. Special emphasis is given to data uncertainties and how they can be incorporated into different data analysis frameworks. (Spring semester, even years)
RCSE 6870 Special Topics: Hydroclimatology
Instructor: Molini (3 credits)
Hydroclimatology is the discipline that brings together hydrology and climate sciences. It addresses urgent questions such us “What is the future of water resources in a changing climate?” and “How can we design for that?” This course will review the physical processes behind precipitation, cloud formation and hydrological partitioning to see how climate is influencing and being influenced by energy and water exchange at the surface of our planet, discuss how land use and coverage changes can influence hydroclimatological processes, explore climate modes of variability like ENSO and review probabilistic and stochastic methods to estimate change from data and project the future with a resilient hydraulic infrastructure in mind. (Fall semester, odd years)
RCSE 6875 Special Topics: Ecohydrology
Instructor: Molini and Staff (3 credits)
This course examines the interaction between water, climate, and ecosystems. The students will be introduced to field observational techniques and modeling tools to assess, mimic, and project vegetation-water relations over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales - from the individual plant's scale to global scales. The main focus will be on the river-delta-coastal continuum. The course will include both traditional lectures and field activities. (Fall semester, even years)
RCSE 6900 – Independent Study
Instructors: Allison, Berger, Biedenharn, Dangendorf, Killgore, Kleiss, Meselhe, Molini and Sabo (1-4 credits)
Independent study which will support a student’s academic or professional needs may be organized with the appropriate faculty.
RCSE 7020 Technical Writing
Instructor: Staff (3 credits).
This will be a semester-long course to teach writing skills and will be focused on producing a draft technical prospectus of the student’s dissertation. The course will be designed for regular feedback on a student’s writing from the guiding professor and from student peers.(Fall semester)
RCSE 7100 Seminar in River-Coastal Science and Engineering
Topics of current interest in river and coastal science and engineering will be presented at seminars on Thursdays at noon. The seminars will be available in-person and remotely.
RCSE 9980 Masters Research
Instructor: Staff (3 credits)
Research toward completion of a masters degree. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours. (Fall, Spring)
RCSE 9990 Dissertation Research
Instructor: Staff (3 credits)
Research toward completion of a doctoral degree. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours. (Fall, Spring)
