Departmental Unit № 1
Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering & Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
PhD in River-Coastal Science and Engineering / PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship + 12-month living stipend (~$32,000–$36,000/yr) + university health insurance covered for all admitted doctoral students through research/teaching fellowships.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 1 (Fall Priority)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 90 or IELTS 7.0
MS in River-Coastal Science and Engineering (Thesis Option)
Research Assistantship Eligible with Funded PIs
Funding Reality: Thesis MS students can secure full tuition waivers and stipends through faculty-funded coastal restoration grants.
Application Deadline: January 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (2 Profiles)
Prof. Mead Allison
Professor and Chair of River-Coastal Science and Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
Department chair who steers research boats down the mouth of the Mississippi River, using sonar and underwater acoustic scanners to measure how millions of tons of mud and sand rebuild sinking coastal wetlands.
Core Research Topics: Sediment transport, Mississippi River delta hydrology, coastal erosion, hydrographic multibeam surveying, sediment diversion engineering.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Conducting high-resolution acoustic Doppler current profiling (ADCP) and multibeam sonar surveys on the lower Mississippi River to quantify bedload sand dynamics supporting the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project (CPRA / USACE 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), multibeam sonar, laser diffraction particle size analysis, Delft3D hydrodynamic modeling, GIS.
Recruiting Context: Founding chair of the department; chief scientist on the multi-billion dollar coastal restoration projects in Louisiana.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood StudiesCoastal GeomorphologyGISEnvironmental Monitoring
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in deltaic sediment transport, river hydrographic surveying (ADCP), and coastal restoration engineering in your department."
Prof. Kyle Straub
Professor and Chair of Earth and Environmental Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He builds giant miniature indoor deltas inside laboratory water tanks with colored sand and computer-controlled water pulses, recording how catastrophic floods cause rivers to violently shift course.
Core Research Topics: Fluvial sediment dynamics, river delta evolution, flood inundation stratigraphy, physical basin experiment flumes, numerical modeling.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Operating the Tulane Sediment Dynamics Laboratory flume basin to simulate how sea level rise and flood pulse frequency trigger river avulsions and rework coastal delta topographies (NSF Sedimentary Geology 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Experimental sediment flume basins, laser topographic scanners, automated water pumps, Python, MATLAB, high-resolution GIS.
Recruiting Context: Renowned experimental geomorphologist with state-of-the-art flume basin laboratories.
Candidate Match:
GeomorphologyHydrologyFlood StudiesEnvironmental Modeling
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in deltaic morphodynamics, experimental flume sediment modeling, and flood avulsion dynamics in the Straub Lab."