Dr. Work received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of California - Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering from the University of Florida. He served as a faculty member in Civil Engineering at Clemson University for nine years. This period included a Fulbright Grant that supported a year of teaching and research at Boğazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Work’s research is related to the movement of water, and often sediments, in the natural environment—particularly the coastal and ocean environment. In this region, man’s interactions with sediments are often problematic, leading to beach erosion, harbor or channel sedimentation and resultant dredging, or transport of pollutants attached to sediments. He has worked on river and reservoir sediment transport problems, as well as beach nourishment and beach erosion issues, often combining field observations with numerical modeling tools. These projects have been sponsored by a variety of state, federal, international, and private entities, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA’s Sea Grant Program. He also collaborates frequently with investigators at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, particularly in the area of measurements of physical oceanographic parameters (waves and currents). Dr. Work is a registered Professional Engineer and has served as a consultant on domestic and international port and harbor problems and development projects. He is also a SCUBA instructor and active scientific diver in support of oceanographic, engineering, and marine archaeology projects.
