NSF/EPSCoR: Transforming Kentucky's New Economy. Environmental Sensor Network for Modeling River Confluences

The proposed research focuses on application of environmental sensors and theory development for sediment and turbulence redistribution in backwater regions at the river confluence. The river confluence is an important environmental feature of river systems due to the complexity of habitat, fluid hydrodynamics, and sediment transport, which in turn impact the ecosystem function. The research builds off of previous research that developed and calibrated novel, miniaturized sediment and fluid velocity sensors, which was performed by collaborators at the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky. Using these new tools, graduate student Robert Stewart and PI Jimmy Fox will develop a highly distributed environmental sensor network to measure sediment and velocity within a river confluence. Measurements will be used to develop and validate fluid mechanics and sediment transport models in the backwater region of the river confluence. The proposed research will be integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum at the University of Kentucky by exposing over 100 freshman students to environmental research, teaching 35 graduate students the usefulness and potential of environmental sensor networks, and partially funding a PhD student from the southern Appalachian region.