Oceanographer Dr. Reide Corbett is pausing this week during his transition from East Carolina University’s Outer Banks campus to the main campus in Greenville to give a talk on how the state’s coast is changing and why those changes matter for low-lying communities like Down East Carteret County.
Corbett, who is leaving his leadership roles on East Carolina University’s Outer Banks campus to act as interim dean of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts & Sciences, is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, one of the 13 unincorporated communities making up Down East.
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Core Sound Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher said that his talk is “an important conversation for all of us who live with a rapidly changing coastline.”
The talk is part of the organization’s five-part Water/Ways speaker series, an extension of the Smithsonian’s traveling “Water/Ways” exhibit on display until Aug. 9.
Related: Two speaker series to look at relationships of people, place
A coastal oceanographer and geochemist whose work focuses on coastal change, Corbett has most recently served as dean of East Carolina University’s Integrated Coastal Programs and executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus in Wanchese.
“Barrier islands, sounds, inlets, wetlands, and shorelines have always been dynamic, but rising sea level, storms, erosion, flooding, and expanding development are changing the risks we face and the choices available to us,” Corbett said in an email. “The talk will focus on the science behind coastal change, what we are seeing along the North Carolina coast, and the tradeoffs involved in how communities respond. The goal is not to offer a single solution, but to help frame the decisions ahead with a clearer understanding of the processes, risks, and long-term consequences.”
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Corbett announced his departure in the Outer Banks campus spring 2026 newsletter and the Outer Banks Voice confirmed his plan in mid-June.
Dr. Mike Muglia will serve as interim director at Coastal Studies Institute while plans are formed to search for the next permanent executive director, expected to be in late summer or early fall, a CSI representative told Coastal Review.
Muglia’s research focuses on Gulf Stream variability and its effect on the complex confluence of different water masses that occur off of the state’s coast. He leads the Coastal Studies Institute’s Gulf Stream resource assessment for the Renewable Ocean Energy Program, and has managed field research project design across disciplines in the marine environment of the Outer Banks, according to CSI.
