Education:
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 2019, Rowan University M.E. Ocean Engineering, 2024, Stevens Institute of Technology Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian-Day-5 My Story: I grew up spending summers with my family on Long Beach Island, and like many other NJ natives the shore has always been my favorite place to be. As I’ve grown older, I’ve gained an appreciation for the natural systems and processes that shape our coasts. Fortunately, I eventually discovered I could turn my love for the coast into a career. I did my undergrad in mechanical engineering at Rowan University. Along the way I spent a summer studying in Berlin, Germany, where I first learned about the general idea of “engineering with nature” in an urban context, using green roofs, rain gardens, and public parks to control stormwater and reduce heat in the city. I worked a couple jobs in mechanical design, but I consistently found myself wanting to focus my work on the outside world instead of spending every day in an office with my work completely unrelated to nature or sustainability. At some point I learned about living shorelines and the field of coastal engineering. It was a major revelation for me that I could incorporate my lifelong desire to be near the ocean and my passion for sustainability into an engineering career. I never expected to enter graduate school, let alone do research and pursue a Ph.D., but I wanted to dive deep into coastal engineering. By enrolling at Stevens with Jon as my advisor, I got to embark on this path while keeping my work focused on my home state. My research has been primarily focused on beach and dune vulnerability and design methodologies for beach nourishment projects, with an emphasis on enhancing the ecological value of human interventions on the coast. I’ve also become interested in methods of field data processing and GIS. Field work is the best part of researching under Dr. Miller, and I like every aspect of it -- walking beach transects, jet skiing, even schlepping around in the mud and crawling around on rock breakwaters. Nothing beats spending the day outside in the water for work. |