Faculty Forum Online: The Challenges of Coastal Flood Protection, Dec. 20, 2012

Update: View a video of this presentation.

Large populations worldwide are at high risk from coastal flooding, either from storm surge events such as hurricanes or the pervasive long-term rise in sea level associated with global warming.

In the next Faculty Forum Online broadcast, Professor Andrew J. Whittle ScD '87, head of MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will discuss the challenges of flood protection using examples from experiences in New York, New Orleans, and Venice.

After Whittle opens the program with remarks on flood protection, he will take questions from the worldwide MIT community via video chat on Thursday, Dec. 20, from noon to 12:30 p.m. (EST).

Register for this free event—The Challenges of Coastal Flood Protection—to receive the link for live viewing. After the event, return to the Slice of MIT blog and continue the conversation in the comments.

About Andrew J. Whittle ScD '87

Professor Andrew J. Whittle is a geotechnical engineer who served on the panel reviewing the hurricane protection systems in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's safety review of Boston's Big Dig tunnel system.

Whittle's research has been used in the design of foundation systems for deepwater oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and he has worked on problems of soil-structure interaction for urban excavation on Boston's Central Artery-Third Harbor Tunnel and the MBTA South Piers transit projects. He earned his bachelor's degree from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, in 1981 and his doctorate from MIT in 1987.

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