By Julia Robins, Staff Writer
During major storms, barrier island systems change. When Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey in late October 2012, waves moved sediment and created new channels, called breaches, destroying buildings and other infrastructure in their path. Scientists are still trying to understand how breaching could affect water circulation patterns, currents, salinity, and water levels. One way to better understand these changes could be by comparing undeveloped islands to developed ones.
“We’re learning a lot about developed islands, but we really don’t know what a normal, undeveloped island would do,” says Stephanie Smallegan, a Virginia Tech PhD candidate and Virginia Sea Grant (VASG) research fellow. Following Superstorm Sandy, Smallegan was among many scientists studying breaching in highly developed areas in New Jersey.
As an engineer, Smallegan knows that roads or buildings could change the way that water flows across land, diverting it one way or another or causing it to pick up speed or slow down. But what happens on undeveloped barrier islands without man-made structures?
“That’s when I really started to look and think, ‘Where have we seen these same processes?’” she says. When Smallegan started looking for an undeveloped barrier island that she could study in comparison, she found that “Assateague Island was a perfect fit,” adding, “I found the problem interesting.”
Others are finding her work interesting as well, as Smallegan seems to be the only scientist gearing up to study breaching on undeveloped barrier islands.
Gwyn Crichton from The Nature Conservancy reached out to Smallegan even before the research began—Smallegan delayed beginning her study to teach a fluid mechanics course at Virginia Tech. Crichton is interested in the resiliency of the Eastern Shore in response to storms, particularly Superstorm Sandy, and is trying to find ways to create a resilient barrier island system. Smallegan, in a sense, is studying the opposite side of the problem: how barrier island systems are destroyed.
“If we know both pieces of the puzzle, then maybe that’s the way we can work together to build some tools to keep our islands here,” says Smallegan.
Smallegan has been pleasantly surprised by the early interest in her work. “My project doesn’t start until late December, but I’ve already had two people contact me about it,” she says. “That’s really encouraging and very exciting.”
Smallegan’s interest in this kind of research began during her undergraduate career when she worked on a beach nourishment project, conducting surveys to determine how much sand had been lost on a beach in Georgia. “That’s when I really fell in love with beaches and erosion and figuring out exactly where our sand is going,” says Smallegan.
Jen Irish, Smallegan’s faculty advisor at Virginia Tech, is confident in Smallegan’s research and future as a VASG fellow. “I think Stephanie is quite unique; she has all the elements to be super successful as a researcher and communicator: She’s got the communication capabilities, the research capabilities, and the drive.”
In the future, Smallegan hopes to teach engineering at a research or teaching at a research or teaching university. Before then, however, she plans to work in private industry to gain more hands-on experience in the field.
As a VASG graduate research fellow, Smallegan can focus on her research while making connections with stakeholders and end-users, which is what she hopes to focus on more in the future. “There’s this full circle that happens, and Virginia Sea Grant is kind of right in the middle of it,” says Smallegan.
Smallegan will begin her research in December 2014.
