Coastal Hydrology, Hydrodynamics, and Oceanography
(Coastal H2O)
Louisiana State University
Current Projects
Examining hydrodynamics and connectivity resulting from atmospheric frontal passages in a coastal river delta
National Science Foundation: 2021-2024 (No-cost extension)
$375,640 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Chunyan Li
Student(s): Sajjad Feizabadi

Collaborative Research: MRA: Scale, Space, and Time: A Unifying Approach to Aquatic Invasions
National Science Foundation: 2021-2024
$263,511 (Hiatt co-PI)
Collaborator(s): Steve Midway, Traci Birch, and many others

CAREER: Dynamic water transport timescales: Quantifying hydrodynamic responses to perturbations across time and space in a river delta
National Science Foundation: 2022-2027
$480,942 (Hiatt PI)
Student(s): Madoche Jean Louis, Muzahidul "Mojo" Islam (MS 2025), Maya Maes-Johnson

Developing Engineering practices for Ecosystem Design Solutions (DEEDS): Calibrating Ecosystem Services to Advance Performance of Natural Infrastructure in Military Operations
US Army Corps of Engineers: 2022-2025
$6,668,680 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Robert Twilley, Traci Birch, Clint Willson, Carol Friedland
Student(s): Caitlin Turner and Madoche Jean Louis
Postdocs: Jesbin George and Hemanth Vundavilli

Roseau cane die-back: Multidisciplinary approaches to address plant decline and opportunities for restoration: Field measurements of overbank flooding
LSU Ag Center: 2022-2024
$124,604 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Kory Konsoer & Andy Nyman
Student(s): Sarah Brannum

Roseau cane die-back: Relationships between vegetation and discharge on distributary channels
in the Birds Foot Delta: bifurcations and sediment flux
LSU Ag Center: 2023-2025
$121,747 (Hiatt co-PI)
Collaborator(s): Kory Konsoer & Andy Nyman
Student(s): Sarah Brannum

Monitoring of waves and currents in Barataria Bay and Breton Sound
Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority 2025-2028
$309,324 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Jesbin George

Mississippi River Delta Transition Initiative
National Academies of Sciences Gulf Research Program 2023-2028
$22,000,000 (Hiatt co-PI - $373,973)
Collaborator(s): 30+ collaborators
Student(s): Sarah Brannum

Collaborative Research: RAPID: Determining the
Impacts of a Combined Historical Watershed and Regional Drought on Coastal Louisiana Wetland
Ecohydrology
National Science Foundation 2023-2024
$23,000 (Hiatt co-PI )
Collaborator(s): John White, Elliott White Jr. (Stanford)
Student(s): Noah Flaherty

Marsh surface water, shallow groundwater, and porewater salinity dynamics between the Mississippi River and adjacent estuaries
RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana 2024-2026
$131,588 (Hiatt PI )
Collaborator(s): John White
Student(s): Noah Flaherty

WIdening the Nation's STEM Workforce INside Louisiana: WIN-WIN
NSF EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP)
$1,590,000 (Hiatt co-PI )
Collaborator(s): Paul Miller, Kevin McPeak
Student(s): TBD

Coastal Research & Engineering to Advance Testbeds for Ecosystem Design (CREATED): Engineering Performance of Natural and NatureBased Solutions
US Army Corps of Engineers
$2,503,190 allocated of $7,813,055 (Hiatt co-PI )
Collaborator(s): Robert Twilley, Traci Birch, Clint Willson, Carol Friedland, Matthew Brand, Chris Kees, Md. Adilur Rahim, Jacob Berkowitz
Student(s): TBD

Completed Projects
Controls of physical drivers on phytoplankton community adaptations in a river diversion influenced estuary
Louisiana Sea Grant: 2020-2024
$142,696 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Sibel Bargu and John White
Student(s): Caitlin Turner

Controls of physical drivers on phytoplankton community adaptations in a river diversion influenced estuary
Louisiana Sea Grant: 2020-2024
$142,696 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Sibel Bargu and John White
Student(s): Caitlin Turner

Monitoring of waves and currents in Barataria Bay & Breton Sound
Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority: 2020-2022; 2022-2025
Project 1 - $226,769 (Hiatt PI)
Project 2 - $272,557 (Hiatt PI)
Student(s): Jay Merrill MS 2022, Jacob Reinhardt BS 2022, Lily Vowels MS 2025
Postdocs(s): Jesbin George
Collaborators: Giulio Mariotti

Mississippi River Delta Survey and Sampling
Louisiana Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority: 2022
$88,830 (Hiatt PI)
Collaborator(s): Sam Bentley & Kevin Xu

Mississippi River 2020-2021 Data Collection in Support of the Mid-Breton Diversion
Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority: 2020-2021
$188,461 (Hiatt co -PI)
Collaborator(s): Sam Bentley & Kevin Xu

2019 Survey of Mississippi River near Middle Breton Diversion
Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority: 2019-2020
$441,327 (Hiatt co -PI)
Collaborator(s): Sam Bentley & Kevin Xu
