An expert on urban coastal flooding, sea-level rise mitigation, and parcel-scale flood risk quantification has joined Scripps Institution of Oceanography as part of the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at UC San Diego.
Timu Gallien, who received her doctorate in civil engineering from UC Irvine, said understanding how flooding works and assessing the vulnerability of populated areas will become increasingly important as coastal flooding is exacerbated by sea-level rise and more intense storm events. Among her projects is the creation of hydrodynamic flood models via computer, but a large component of her research also includes field studies to collect real-world data on variables ranging from the height of flood walls to the location of sand berms.
“My research is focused on quantifying risk and understanding the efficacy of proposed mitigation techniques,” said Gallien.
Scripps oceanographer Robert Guza will be Gallien’s advisor during the one-year fellowship, which started July 1.
"I'm pleased to have the opportunity to mentor an engineer/scientist of Dr. Gallien's caliber and character,” said Guza. “Her innovative work on coastal urban flooding is important now, and will become increasingly critical as sea level rises. Coastal Southern California, including San Diego, is already vulnerable to flooding during high tides and energetic waves. Quantifying the evolving hazards, and assessing risk mitigation schemes, will require observations, numerical models, and decades of focused effort.”
The Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program provides research support, faculty mentoring, and professional development to scholars in a wide range of fields whose service contribute to diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California.
“It is a tremendous honor to be a UCSD Chancellor’s Fellow. I look forward to leveraging my own personal experiences to encourage and promote diversity within our greater academic community.” Gallien will be one of three fellows-in-residence at UC San Diego this year.