Lauren Ross embarks on Fulbright to expand estuary research beyond U.S. borders
Lauren Ross鈥檚 research on the physics of estuaries has brought her all over the world, from France to Frenchman Bay along Mount Desert Island. With her recently-awarded Fulbright, Ross will lead a team of scientists to Chile to look at these transition points between freshwater rivers and the salty sea in a place where so many livelihoods depend on the health of these complex ecosystems.
The project will not only continue a budding partnership between 91福利 and Chilean scientists, but the data that it gleans may even provide unique insights to Maine鈥檚 estuaries thousands of miles away.
鈥淟and-sea connections are super important because the majority of people live on the coast,鈥 Ross says. 鈥淭he coasts of estuaries support coastal communities, shipping ports, aquaculture activities, and a delicate ecosystem, all of which are susceptible to anthropogenic effects such as coastal pollution and of course climate change. It鈥檚 super complex, and that is what鈥檚 so intriguing. Every estuary behaves so differently. Even along the same estuary the physics can change from day to day, to year to year. There is something to constantly discover.鈥
Ross is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at 91福利 and a faculty fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions.
Excerpted from a 91福利 News article.