Current Members

Donald and Martha Harleman Professor

Margaret MacVicar Fellow

Fellow, American Geophysical Union

ASCE, Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award

Chi Epsilon Honor Member

Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award – Bucknell University

18th Harold Jan Schoemaker Award

NSF Career Award

School of Engineering Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching

Samual M. Seegal Prize, MIT – for inspiring student in pursuing excellence

Earll Murman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising

IAHR M. Salim Yalin Lifetime Achievement Award

hmnepf (at) mit.edu

Administrative Assistant

snethert@mit.edu

I’m here to help with purchasing, shipping, website updates, and more for the Nepf Lab. Please reach out with any inquiries!

Graduate Student

inhim838@mit.edu

Nature has evolved to know best how to stay resilient against natural forces. My research examines the science of how marshes can be placed in front of seawalls to attenuate wave amplitude and wave energy to reduce over topping and erosion. This is studied using wave dissipation models based on the physics of wave-vegetation hydrodynamic interactions. Hybrid coastal defense strategies not only offers important ecosystem services to combat climate change challenges, but also potentially deliver the same level of coastal protection more economically. Therefore, I will also conduct cost-benefit analysis on combined marshes and seawall infrastructures to examine whether societies would benefit economically from implementing nature based coastal protection and live more harmoniously with the natural environment.

Graduate Student

aj366@mit.edu

With sea level rise and land subsidence, standing pools of water are becoming more common in coastal wetlands. This ponding can reduce the effectiveness of wetlands in wave attenuation, erosion protection, carbon sequestration, and nutrient uptake. Runnels are man-made ditches that are designed to divert water and drain these ponds, which will promote revegetation. To better understand how runnel placement and dimensions affect flood reduction, I am using computational modeling to simulate their performance throughout the tidal cycle. The results will be used to inform a wetland restoration project on the placement and sizing of these runnels. 

Graduate Student

cpdavis@mit.edu

The Living Seawalls initiative aims to reduce the environmental impact of hardened coastal infrastructure like seawalls by encouraging biodiversity through retrofitted “tiles” designed to provide habitat in the intertidal zone. A co-benefit of these tiles may be their ability to decrease wave overtopping by way of dissipating energy over their roughened and complex surfaces. Wave overtopping during high-energy storm events can damage seawall structures and the people and property they are designed to protect. The goal of my research will be to explore the relationship between tile characteristics (geometry and placement) and wave overtopping rates through scaled experimentation. 

Visiting Graduate Student from ETH Zurich

singloor@ethz.ch

Engineered logjams (ELJs) are widely used in river restoration projects for their ability to alter flow dynamics, retain sediment, and create habitats for aquatic species. These structures provide crucial ecological benefits by introducing velocity shelters and promoting biodiversity in degraded river systems. By building on existing knowledge, I will use results from hydraulic experiments to analyze habitat suitability for a target fish species, providing actionable design recommendations for river restoration projects and enabling more effective use of ELJs in promoting ecological and hydraulic sustainability.

Visiting Graduate Student from Zhejiang University

bingr99@mit.edu

Coastal wetlands are vital ecological resources and significant carbon sinks. However, the global area of coastal wetlands is decreasing at the alarming rate of 0.7% to 7% annually. Current- and wave-driven erosion is a major driver of retreat along wetland leading edges. It is critical to understanding the mechanisms of erosion, so that we can improve restoration and protection strategies to maintain coastal ecosystem. My research investigates the hydrodynamic characteristics and bedload sediment transport in vegetated regions under the combined influence of waves and currents. I use flume experiments and theoretical analyses. I will use the results from the flume experiments to construct sub-grid-scale models to represent turbulence and sediment transport in large-scale, two-dimensional numerical simulations, which can be used to study the evolution of coastal wetlands.

Research Affiliate, Nepf Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, MIT
Research Scientist, Seoul National University

hpark418@mit.edu

In natural streams, vegetation may grow in spatially heterogeneous patterns of individual patches. Different flow regimes develop near the vegetation, depending on the evolution of wake structure between the patches. The flow regime affects the ecological, biological, morphological processes in aquatic system. My current research focuses on the growth of turbulent flow structures in the gap between patches and on how the wakes interact to develop flow structure over a wide range of scales. Specifically, I am conducting a series of laboratory experiments with submerged flexible vegetation (Rotala indica), in which I will vary the gap between patches. The experiments will identify the patch spatial density (gap spacing) for which there is a transition from heterogeneous near-bed flow, moving around individual patches, to flow structure defined by a vertical shear layer, with uniformly low velocity near the bed.  The result of this study will provide a model to predict real-world fluvial processes such as morphodynamic evolution, flow resistance, and habitat in channels with submerged flexible vegetation patches.

Fulbright-Kalam Fellow

Dr. Ananth Wuppukondur is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. His research interests are in Coastal and Hydraulic Engineering, focusing on understanding the physics of natural hazards in coastal and riverine environments and exploring nature-based solutions for coastal protection. During his term as a Fulbright-Kalam Fellow at MIT, Dr. Wuppukondur’s research focuses on quantifying the role of mangrove forests in coastal protection and establishing a knowledge network between India and USA for using mangroves as a nature-based solution to diminish the flooding associated with storm surges. Coastal communities in India and USA are adversely impacted by the increasing intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones. The results of this work will improve assessment of coastal flood risk and help in disaster mitigation and management in both the countries.

Research Affiliate, Nepf Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, MIT

Research Scientist, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich

ischalko@mit.edu

Personal Website

Numerous rivers have been confined and are eco-morphologically impaired, resulting in an increased demand for river restoration projects. Wood placements are a common and inexpensive measure for river restoration. To plan and evaluate river restoration projects including wood accumulations, it is important to understand the interactions between flow, wood, and sediment. Using physical modeling, my project aims to quantify flow and morphological structures associated with different wood accumulation setups. The results will be used to develop design recommendations for wood accumulations.