Robert Weaver, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences | Florida Tech
Melbourne, FL, UNITED STATES
Dr. Weaver's areas of expertise include coastal flooding, coastal transport, water quality and littoral processes.
Areas of Expertise (7)
Coastal Flooding
Coastal Eco-engineering
2D and 3D Circulation Modeling
Coastal Transport
Water Quality
Littoral Processes
Living Shorelines
About
Dr. Robert Weaver’s research focuses on coastal eco-engineering and coastal hydrodynamics/storm surge inundation.
He joined Florida Tech in 2011, where he educates the next generation of coastal engineering professionals to develop science-based engineering solutions to coastal challenges (e.g., habitat loss, sea level rise, coastal water quality, hurricanes and storm surge inundation).
Dr. Weaver came to Florida Tech after working as a post-doctoral research assistant at the Institute of Marine Sciences at University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he developed 2D/3D high resolution coastal models for predicting wave and storm surge and tracking particles (e.g. oil from Deepwater Horizon Blowout, oyster larvae).
Dr. Weaver was instrumental in founding the Indian River Lagoon Research Institute at Florida Tech In 2013 and initiating the Living Dock program.
His current research includes real-time coastal modeling of waves and water levels, coastal flooding and transport, living shoreline/living dock design, and coastal eco-engineering.
Research Focus (1)
Real Time Forecasting of Waves and Storm Surge
Real time coastal wind, wave, and water level guidance is presented here for the East Central Florida Coast with high resolution in the Indian River Lagoon and Brevard County. These predictions were made by the physics-based ADCIRC+SWAN numerical model using NOAA’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) model or the latest forecast/advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Media Assets
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Media Appearances (5)
How to stay safe: Brevard County saw 200 ocean rescues this year
Spectrum News 13 tv
2021-06-30
A rip current can move at speeds up to 8 miles per hour, faster than an Olympic swimmer can sprint. Those who have lived through a rip current event, like Florida Tech Professor Robert Weaver, said you cannot struggle against it. “It was a challenge. If you try and fight the current of the main rip, you will lose. And so, you really have to break free of that main current. And the best way to do that is go back to where the waves are breaking,” Weaver said.
Wanted Weeds: Early Signs Positive for Living Docks Program
Florida Tech News online
2021-01-20
Since 2016, Hunsucker, alongside ocean engineering associate professor Robert Weaver and Florida Tech’s Indian River Lagoon research team, has partnered with the local community through the Living Docks program. The program involves wrapping dock pilings with oyster mats. The idea is that the mats facilitate the growth of oysters, barnacles and sponges, all of which are filter feeders that help remove excess nitrogen from waters by incorporating it into their shells and tissue as they grow.
A Florida Waterway Recently Resembled an Ice Rink. It's Likely Something Far Worse.
The Weather Channel tv
2021-01-07
“And then we had a lot of wind, a lot of surface momentum flux and that really stirred the algae up," Robert Weaver, a professor of ocean engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, told weather.com in a phone call Thursday.
Florida Tech 'surfing professor' appears on Science Channel show
Florida Today print
2017-02-22
As Florida Tech's resident "surfing professor," Robert Weaver made waves in academia with his surf engineering analysis course. Now Science Channel wants in on the action.
Florida Tech Works to Restore Lagoon with Living Shoreline, Dock Projects
Florida Tech News online
2016-11-16
Indian River Lagoon Research Institute Director Robert Weaver, second from left, and several students survey the lagoon shoreline as part of preliminary work on developing a man-made oyster reef that will help buffer the banks from erosion.
Education (3)
University of Florida: Ph.D., Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering 2008
University of Florida: M.S., Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering 2004
University of North Carolina at Greensboro: B.S., Mathematics 1999
Links (5)
Selected Articles (7)
Coupling a Parametric Wave Solver into a Hydrodynamic Circulation Model to Improve Efficiency of Nested Estuarine Storm Surge Predictions
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering2022
Assessing the Biological Performance of Living Docks—A Citizen Science Initiative to Improve Coastal Water Quality through Benthic Recruitment within the Indian River Lagoon
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering2022
Cathodically protected steel as an alternative to plastic for oyster restoration mats
Ecological Engineering2021
Replacing a third-generation wave model with a fetch based parametric solver in coastal estuaries
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science2021
Statistical Modeling of Fine Sediments Dredged Using a Variable Area Dredging Suction Head to Improve Water Quality
Hydrology2021
Mineral Accretion: An Environmentally Alternative to Plastic for Oyster Restoration
IEEE2019
An operational coastal forecasting tool for performing ensemble modeling
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science2019
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