WILMINGTON — Dylan McNamara, associate professor and chair of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate ways public policies will affect both economic decisions and the coastal environment, the university announced Thursday.
McNamara will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers from geomorphologists to economists, to address the interactions of natural forces, economic decisions and public policies to determine how the environment and patterns of human settlement react to rising seas and related coastline changes. The grant will fund the research for four years and the project is already underway.
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Researchers from UNCW, Duke University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, The Ohio State University, East Carolina University and the University of Colorado will create and investigate computer modeled coastal communities similar to those found along U.S. East and Gulf Coast barrier islands.
The results of the team’s research will provide insight into how real estate markets respond to complex changes in environmental conditions, public policies, scientific knowledge, and individual attitudes and values. Research is a key priority of the university’s Strategic Plan.
