Professor
Roi Gurka
Ph.D., 2003, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
M.S.,1999, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
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B.S.,1996, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Professor
Erin Hackett
Ph.D., 2010, Physical Oceanography, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Baltimore, MD
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M.C.E., 2007, Civil Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
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B.S., 2000, Physics, Summa Cum Laude, Roanoke College, Salem, VA
Ph.D Students
Danny Greenway
Danny Greenway, originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, earned his B.S. in Meteorology and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana in 2018. During his bachelor’s degree he worked with the EFL during the summer of 2017 participating in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. This work led to a M.S. in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies from Coastal Carolina University where he investigated heterogeneous refractivity environments and their effect on X-band radar systems. He is currently a Ph.D student in the Marine Science Department at Coastal Carolina where he is studying remote sensing of temperature and humidity using radar in the marine atmospheric surface layer.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Kiruthika Sundararajan
Kiruthika, originally from India, holds an M.S in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama. During her Master's, she worked on direct numerical simulations (DNS) of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. working on a numerical study of the influence of unsteady effects on aerodynamic performances of insect flight. Her research provides insight on complex flow physics associated with insect-like flapping, which may be important for the design and optimization of efficient flapping in application to micro aerial vehicles (MAVs).
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Abdalrahman Alsharif
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Masters Students
Madison Bruno
Maddie grew up in Westminster, MD. She obtained her B.S. in Marine Science from Coastal Carolina University in the spring of 2023. At the EFL, during her undergraduate studies, she explored air-sea interactions, specifically optimizing wave models to improve accuracy of simulated sea surfaces using in-situ data. She is currently a Masters student in the Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies program.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Alexis Vaughan
Alexis, a native of Virginia Beach, VA, obtained her B.S. in Marine Science from
Coastal Carolina University in the spring of 2023. At the EFL, during her undergraduate studies, she investigated evaporation ducts and their impact on radar system performance. She is currently a Masters student in the Coastal and Marine Wetland Studies program. She hopes to eventually work on science and technology related to US Navy systems at a naval research laboratory.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Jensine Coggin
Jensine is originally from Nettleton, MS, and she received her Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry in 2021 from the University of Mississippi. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Coastal Marine and Wetland Sciences from Coastal Carolina University. Jensine’s research involves biophysical interactions associated with fish feeding. Specifically, she is studying the pressure field that is created by bluegill sunfish during the process of suction feeding.
Advisors: Prof. Roi Gurka and Prof. Erin Hackett
Braedon Payne
Braedon is from Avon, Indiana and attended Olivet Nazarene University where he played baseball and received his B.S. in Zoology. He is currently working on his M.S. thesis that is evaluating swimming modes of sharks, particularly the variation of kinematic performance between different swim modes.
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
EFL Alumni
Ian Matsko
Ian is from Collegeville, PA and graduated from CCU in 2015 with a B.S. in Marine Science and minor in coastal geology. He started his MS candidacy in 2016 researching atmospheric effects on radar signal propagation in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL). This research utilized an inversion method to estimate atmospheric refractivity, and specifically examined the effects of data sampling density on the accuracy of these inversions. Ian received his Masters in 2018 and is currently working at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock Division.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
AJ Kammerer
AJ is from Medford Lakes, NJ, and graduated from CCU in 2014 with a B.S. in Marine Science. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he first worked with Dr. Hackett and the Environmental Fluids Laboratory (EFL) using particle image velocimetry (PIV) to study the settling of oyster larvae. He started his MS candidacy in 2015 researching the novel application of a method, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), for the extraction of ocean surface wave fields from marine radar measurements. AJ received his Masters in 2017 and is currently working as a Physical Scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory - Marine Meteorology Division, in Monterey, CA.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Sarah Wessinger
Sarah is originally from Dunkirk, Maryland. She received a B.S. in marine science with a minor in applied mathematics in 2020 and an M.S. in Coastal, Marine, and Wetland Studies in 2022, both from Coastal Carolina University. Her thesis research focused on understanding the connections between evaporation duct shape and the meteorology of the marine atmospheric surface layer. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and is also working part-time for the Naval Research Laboratory - Marine Meteorology Division, in Monterey, CA.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Vivian Turner
Vivian Turner, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, graduated from Coastal Carolina University with her B.S. in Marine Science in 2016, and an M.S. at Coastal studying biophysics, more specifically shark hydrodynamics. Her research focuses on the function of two large dorsal fins of Lemon Sharks (Negaprion brevirostris), and their effects on lift and drag forces. Her research gives a better understanding as to how sharks manipulate the flow to their hydrodynamic advantage. This knowledge can be applied to design of man made vehicles like underwater remotely operated vehicles. (ROV’s). She currently works at Savannah River National Laboratory (DOE) in Aiken, SC.
Advisors: Prof. Roi Gurka and Prof. Erin Hackett
Matthew Rodriguez
Matt Rodriguez is from Tampa, Florida. He received his B.S. in biology from Florida State University in 2016 and his Masters at Coastal Carolina University investigating Mako shark hydrodynamics. He currently works for Florida Fish & Wildlife.
Advisors: Prof. Roi Gurka and Prof. Erin Hackett
Krisnamoorthy Krishnan
Krishnamoorthy Krishnan, originally from India, received his Ph.D. in 2021 working on bird aerodynamics. His research investigated aerodynamic mechanisms involved in steady flapping forward flight of common migratory birds using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. He focused on the wake interactions and flow dynamics due to flapping motion. His research provides insights into the role of unsteady aerodynamic forces involved in efficient bird flight. He currently is working on his post-doc at Swansea University in Swansea, Wales.
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Asif Nafi
Asif is from Bangladesh and received his B.S. degree from the Military Institute of Science and Technology. He completed his PhD in 2023. His research focused on bird aerodynamics, more specifically owl flight. He studied how owl’s distinctive morphological features dampen noise during its flight using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) techniques. His research enables engineers to improve design of silent air vehicles by understanding aerodynamic mechanisms associated with owl's nearly silent flight. He plans to work in the aerospace industry in the United States.
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Doug Pastore
Doug Pastore grew up in New Providence, NJ and received a B.S. from Stockton University in marine science. In 2018, Doug received his M.S. from Coastal Carolina University for his research on hydrodynamic drivers of dissolved oxygen variability within a tidal creek local to Myrtle Beach, SC. Doug obtained his Ph.D. from Coastal in 2023, where his research focused on radar remote sensing and environmental effects on electromagnetic wave propagation. He is currently working as a scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, VA, where he researches environmental effects on radar.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Matt Stanek
Matt, a native of Portsmouth, Virginia received his B.S. in Engineering Physics, Environmental Studies, and Political Science in 2016 from Randolph-Macon College. In 2018, he received an M.S. from Coastal Carolina University for his research on turbulent boundary layers. He obtained his PhD from the Marine Science Department at Coastal Carolina in 2023, where he investigated wave coherent temperature and humidity near-surface vertical distributions and their impact on radar performance. In addition, Matt was a 2019 Department of Defense, Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholar. He is currently working at the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Monterey, CA.
Advisor: Prof. Erin Hackett
Tanner Saussaman
Tanner, hailing from Carlisle, PA, earned his B.S. in Applied Physics from Coastal Carolina University in 2021 and his M.S. in Coastal and Marine Wetland studies in 2023. In the EFL, Tanner conducted biophysical research, where his thesis focused on wing-wake interactions for a pair of rotating insect wings in order to better understand their aerodynamics.
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Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Anup Debnath
Anup is a Bangladesh native and earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Military Institute of Science & Technology. After graduation he served as a Lecturer and an Aircraft Engineer for NovoAir. Anup graduated with his M.S. degree in Coastal Marine and Wetlands Studies in Fall 2022.
Advisor: Prof. Roi Gurka
Undergraduate Alum
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Holly Mullins (2022-2023)
Alexis Vaughan (2022-2023)
Madison Bruno (2022-2023)
Kainen Leer (2022)
Tanner Saussaman (2021)
Sarah Wessinger (2018-2020)
Johnathan Lawley (2018-2019)
David Helmenstine (2017-2018)
Branson Sutton (2017-2018)
Jacob Hershman (2017-2018)
Masamitsu Ishibashi (2017)
Kyra Harrington (2015-2017)
Stephen Penton (2015-2017)
Vivian Turner (2016)
Meghan Troup (2014-2016)
Jeff Lewis (2015)
Cameron Collins (2015)
John Saeger (2013-2015)
Corinne Jacobs (2013-2015)
Marek Jendrassak (2012-2015)
Malarie O’Brien (2014)
Andrew Kammerer (2014)
Wil Merchant (2012-2014)
Nathan Grimes (2012-2013)
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Visiting Undergraduate Alum
Joseph Carman (2019)
Chance Roberts (2019)
Timothy Hesford (2019)
William Lambert (2018)
Danny Greenway (2017)
Khenan Terry (2017)
Kolton Cooper (2016)
Dionys Beck (2015)
Amanda Wright (2014)