The work of Dr. Clint Dawson, professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, is featured on the Math/Physical Sciences division of the National Science Foundation’s web site. His research is cited as an example of “the pervasive nature of the mathematical sciences in underpinning and enabling much of today’s scientific, engineering, commercial and defense-related activities.”

Dr. Dawson’s work is part of a long-term project with researchers at the University of Notre Dame, the University of North Carolina and the University of Oklahoma. The group is in the process of developing numerical algorithms and computer software for modeling hydrodynamics in surface water, and out of this project Dr. Dawson’s group developed a simulator called UTBEST (University of Texas Bay and Estuary Simulator). Its primary purpose is to model events occurring in coastal environments, such as hurricane storm surges, environmental contamination due to oil spills, industrial and municipal waste, effects due to dredging of shipping channels and forces acting on offshore structures such as oil platforms. One particular problem the group has looked at is oil spills in the Houston Ship Channel, where the simulator was used to predict the spread of contamination events.

The National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the United States government whose mission is “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.”

For more information contact Stephanie Scalco at 512-471-7541.

^top