Lower Mississippi River Science Symposium Program
Lavin-Bernick Center, McAlister Drive, Tulane University (Live-streamed via Zoom)
Thursday, April 27, 2023
| 8:15 | Doors Open |
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Opening Session Welcome Recording » |
| 9:00 | Kimberly Foster, PhD, Dean, Tulane School of Science and Engineering |
| 9:10 | Mead Allison, PhD, Professor and Chair, Dept. of River-Coastal Science and Engineering, Tulane University |
| 9:30 - 10:50 | Session 1: Monitoring Recording » |
| 9:30 | Session chair: Richard Rebich, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center – Mississippi US Geological Survey |
| 9:35 | Louisiana’s 2022 Water Quality Integrated Report Rachael Mathews, Environmental Scientist Manager, La. Dept. of Environmental Equality |
| 10:00 | Measuring for the Future: A “Sentinel” Waterway Monitoring System for the Mississippi River Basin Bryan Piazza, Director of Science, The Nature Conservancy, Louisiana and Mississippi River Basin Program |
| 10:25 | Technological Improvements and Upgrades to the USGS monitoring network in Lower Mississippi River Basin, 2023. Michael A. Manning, Physical Scientist/Large River Coordinator, U. S. Geological Survey |
| 10:50 - 11:00 | Break - 10 minutes |
| 11:00 - 12:20 | Session 2: Water Quality and Ecology - Session A Recording » |
| 11:00 | Session chair: Angie Rodgers, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| 11:05 | Evidence of “Forever Chemicals” Found in the Industrial Corridor: Louisiana Water Systems at Risk Rebecca Malpass, Director of Policy and Research and Holly Laviolette, Rersearch Coordinator, The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans |
| 11:30 | A Century-long Snapshot of Water Quality at the End of the Mississippi River R. Eugene Turner, Professor, Louisiana State University |
| 11:55 | Reforesting the Lower Mississippi River: a Multi-agency Collaborative Effort to Restore a Critical Habitat Audrey B. Harrison, PhD, Research Entomologist, USACE – Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) |
| 12:20 - 1:20 | Lunch |
| 1:20 - 2:40 | Session 3: Water Quality and Ecology - Session B Recording » |
| 1:20 | Session chair: Kim Lutz, America’s Watershed Initiative |
| 1:25 | Designing a Sill to Mitigate Salt Intrusion Gijs G. Hendrickx, MSc, Delft University of Technology |
| 1:50 | N-removal by Denitrification in LMR Batture Lakes Clifford A. Ochs, PhD, Professor, University of Mississippi, Dept. of Biology |
| 2:15 | Channel Modification and Evolution Alter Hydraulic Connectivity in the Atchafalaya River, a Delta Interrupted Dan Kroes, Research Ecologist, USGS |
| 2:40 - 2:50 | Break - 10 minutes |
| 2:50 - 4:35 | Session 4: Modeling Recording » |
| 2:50 | Session chair: Andy Ashley, PE, USACE, Mississippi Valley Division |
| 2:55 | Physical and Numerical Modeling of the Low-Sill Structure at ORCC Cody Bryant, Research Civil Engineer, USACE |
| 3:20 | An Overview of the Newly Implemented Forecast System of Southern Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico Ehab Meselhe, PhD, Professor and Lara Manuel, Student, Tulane University |
| 3:45 | Modeling Suspended Sediment Loads at the Continental Scale: Study Case - Mississippi River Basin Natalie Memarsadeghi, Research Physical Scientist, UCACE -Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) |
| 4:10 | Modeling Hydrologic Alteration in Northern Gulf Coast River Basins Victor Roland, Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey |
| 4:35 | End |
| 4:35 - 7:00 | Poster Session and Reception |
Friday, April 28, 2023
| 8:15 | Doors Open |
| 8:30 - 10:00 | Session 5: The Lowermost Mississippi River - Session A Recording » |
| 8:30 | Session Chair: Bryan Piazza, PhD, The Nature Conservancy |
| 8:35 | Review of Technical Activities and Current Status of CPRA’s RESTORE-funded Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program James W. Pahl, PhD, Coastal Resources Scientist, Sr., Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) |
| 9:00 | Neptune Pass: The Largest New Distributary of The Mississippi River Alexander S. Kolker, PhD, Associate Professor, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium |
| 9:25 | Forecasting Shoaling on the Mississippi River Using Crowd-sourced and USACE Operational Data Andrew Courtois, Research Scientist, The Water Institute |
| 9:50 - 10:00 | Break - 10 minutes |
| 10:00 - 11:20 | Session 6: The Lowermost Mississippi River - Session B Recording » |
| 10:00 | Session chair: Barb Kleiss, Tulane Dept. of River and Coastal Science and Engineering |
| 10:05 | A Physics-Based and Machine-Learning Hybrid Model Supporting the RESTORE-funded Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program Christopher Esposito, PhD, Research Geoscientist, The Water Institute |
| 10:30 | Acoustic Backscatter as a Surrogate for Suspended Sediment Concentration using Sediment Transport Analysis, Mississippi River at Belle Chasse, LA Adam Gartelman, Coastal Geologistand Scott Mize, Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey |
| 10:55 | Assessing the Salt Wedge During 2022 Low Flow Conditions in the Lowermost Mississippi River Deborah Centola, Hydraulic Engineer/Water Management, USACE |
| 11:20 | End |