Geomorphology is the study of how planetary landscapes change through time in response to physical, chemical, and biological processes. Researchers in the department study landscapes over a wide range of scales, from particle-scale sediment transport to the global evolution of planetary surfaces, utilizing a variety of methods including computational modeling, field studies, and experimental work.
Within the Department there is a strong focus on the interactions between the Earth’s surface and its atmosphere. These efforts integrate hydrological, ecological, and meteorological principles to understand the exchange of water, heat, and trace gases between the land and the atmosphere. Much of the interest in these mass and energy fluxes centers on the nonlinear feedback effects between the surface and the atmosphere, and the resulting impacts to the biosphere and atmosphere.
Bright received a B.S. in Marine Science from Nanjing University, China, as well as an M.S. in Marine Geology. He is broadly interested in tidal dynamics, coastal sediment transport, and estuarine and coastal morphodynamics, with a focus on human disturbance (reclamation, sluice gate operation, harbor construction, etc) to the coastal system. He used a combination of observed data analysis and numerical modeling to tackle these problems. For his PhD, Bright will work in the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER and focus on sediment dynamics in salt marshes.
Bright received a B.S. in Marine Science from Nanjing University, China, as well as an M.S. in Marine Geology. He is broadly interested in tidal dynamics, coastal sediment transport, and estuarine and coastal morphodynamics, with a focus on human disturbance (reclamation, sluice gate operation, harbor construction, etc) to the coastal system. He used a combination of observed data analysis and numerical modeling to tackle these problems. For his PhD, Bright will work in the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER and focus on sediment dynamics in salt marshes.
Integrating with spatial applications of remote sensing and GIS, my Ph.D. research focuses on advancing the ecohydrological modeling as a powerful tool to support the future decision-making pertaining to the water resources within ecosystems. I received B.A. and M.S. degrees in Geography from Virginia Tech.
Charles received his B.S. in Environmental Sciences and M.A. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focused on streamflow variation as a result of long-term vegetation-climate interactions at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory and LTER. His dissertation combines empirical analyses from his masters with hydrologic modeling to explore how land-use/landcover change amid future climate change alter regional streamflow patterns.
