Lower Mississippi River Science Symposium Program

Tulane River and Coastal Center (Live-streamed via Zoom)

Thursday, March 10, 2022

8:15	Doors Open
9:00 - 9:30	Opening Session Welcome
9:00	Kimberly Foster, PhD, Dean, Tulane School of Science and Engineering
9:10	Mead Allison, PhD, Professor and Chair, Dept. of River-Coastal Science and Engineering, Tulane University
9:30 - 11:00	Session 1: Modeling Studies of the Lower Mississippi River
	Session chair: Ehab Meselhe, PhD
9:30	Updates in SPARROW Modeling Studies: Sources of Nutrients and Suspended Sediment throughout the Lower Mississippi River Basin Dale Robertson, PhD, Research Hydrologist, USGS, Upper Midwest Water Science Center
10:00	Analyzing the Effects of Climate Change on Streamflow for the Entire Mississippi River Basin James W. Lewis, PhD, Director of the Mississippi River Science and Technology Office, USACE, Mississippi Valley Division; Ahmad A. Tavakoly, PhD, Research Hydraulic Engineer, U. S. Army Research and Development Center; Sara Lytle, USACE
10:30	USACE New Orleans District’s HEC-RAS Modeling of the Lower Mississippi/Atchafalaya System David Ramirez, PE, D WRE, Chief, River Engineering Branch, USACE; Max Agnew, PE, Hydraulic Engineer – Coastal Engineering Section; Matt Dircksen, PE, Hydraulic Engineer – Coastal Engineering Section
11:00 - 12:00	Lunch
12:00 - 1:30	Session 2: The Water Quality and Ecology of the Batture and Main Channel
	Session chair: Richard Rebich
12:00	A unified water monitoring approach for the Mississippi River Basin Bryan Piazza, PhD, Director of Freshwater and Marine Science, The Nature Conservancy
12:30	Long-term Mississippi River Nutrient Trends Expose Shifts in the River Load Response to Watershed Nutrient Balances between 1975 and 2017n Sarah Marie Stackpoole, PhD, Water Mission Area ; Earth Systems Processes Division, USGS
1:00	An Interdisciplinary Approach of Evaluating the Biological Integrity of River-Floodplain Ecosystems in the Lower Mississippi River K. Jack Killgore, PhD, Research Fisheries Biologist, USACE ERDC, Environmental Laboratory
1:30 - 1:45	Break - 15 minutes
1:45 - 3:15	Session 3: Updates on Ongoing Projects and Efforts
	Session chair: Bryan Piazza, PhD
1:45	Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration Study Mike Thron, Biologist, USACE Regional Planning and Environmental Division South
2:15	Ouachita River Watershed Study Request Jennifer Sheehan, Chief, Environmental Coordination Division, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
2:45	Mid-Basin Sediment Diversion Program Update Rudy Simoneaux, PE, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA)
3:15 - 3:30	Break - 15 minutes
3:30	Update on National Academies' Report: An Approach for Assessing U. S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Laura Windecker, PhD, Program Officer, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
3:35	Transferring Science into Action Facilitated by Kim Lutz, Director, Americas Watershed Initiative and Heidi Mehl, PhD, Director, Water and Agriculture Programs, The Nature Conservancy
4:30	End

Friday, March 11, 2022

8:15	Doors Open
8:30 - 10:00	Session 4: Sediment Transport in the Lower Mississippi River
	Session chair: Mead Allison, PhD
8:30	ISSDOTv2 Methodology and Measurements Tate O. McAlpin, PE, Research Physicist, Rivers and Estuaries Branch, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, U.S. Army Research and Development Center and David D. Abraham
9:00	Victoria Bend Comprehensive Assessment Keaton E. Jones, Research Hydraulic Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL), River Engineering Branch
9:30	Ongoing Studies of Channel and Floodplain Sedimentation Below Old River Control Daniel E. Kroes, Research Ecologist, USGS; Ryder Myers, Dept. of River-Coastal Science and Engineering, Tulane University
10:00 - 10:10	Break - 10 minutes
10:10 - 11:40	Session 5: Navigation Considerations
	Session chair: James W. Lewis, PhD
10:10	Deep-Draft Navigation on the Mississippi River Ship Channel Sean Duffy, Sr., Executive Director, Big River Coalition
10:40	An Integrated Approach to Evaluating Inland Waterway Disruptions using Economic Interdependence, Agent-based, and Bayesian Models Paul M. Johnson, PhD, Research Fellow, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Vanderbilt University
11:10	Navigation Research at the Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory Benjamin Craig Burnham, Supervisory Civil Engineer, Navigation Branch, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, USACE Engineering Research and Development Center; Brian Tetreault, Navigation Systems Specialist, USACE Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory; Marin Kress, PhD, Research Scientist, USACE, Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory
11:40	Business Session
12:10	End