As part of the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS)’ commitment to providing educational opportunities grounded in the real world, we partnered with Ducks Unlimited (DU) to create the Natural Infrastructure (NI) Fellowship. The NI Fellowship offers funded graduate fellowships for Masters students across the fields of engineering and environmental science. Real world learning means we encourage our Natural Infrastructure Fellows–also known as our “Ducks”– to get their feet wet.
Recently, our Ducks migrated across the state for Ducks Unlimited’s National Engineering Meeting in historic Savannah, Georgia. The group had a full itinerary for the quick visit: on Tuesday, February 25th, program manager Will Mattison and NI Fellowship students Nick Austin and Liz Collins gave presentations on the NI Fellowship program and their thesis work on wetland restoration and coastal impoundments, respectively. DU engineers from around the country were able to learn more about the students’ research, ask questions, and offer a few insights. On Wednesday, the group sat in on continuing education lectures led by Dr. Brent Travis on engineering topics related to wetland and stream restoration.
On Thursday, the Fellows headed out for a tour of Savannah National Wildlife Refuge and had more opportunities to engage with and learn from DU engineers and refuge staff. Billy Webster, the DU Director of Engineering Services for the Southern region, gave a talk on the organization’s restoration work on the refuge (e.g., raising levees, installing rice trunks, etc.) after Hurricane Irma before leading a tour around the refuge, pointing out DU’s water infrastructure projects along the way, a controlled burn, and of course, waterfowl and alligators.
When the party arrived back at the refuge’s visitor center, they continued conversations with the engineering team over a lowcountry boil.
The goal of this experience was simple: to get students’ hands dirty. As program manager Will Mattison put it: “Hey, this is what it takes to be a DU engineer.”
If you’re ready to get your hands dirty (mostly doing important work at the nexus of engineering and ecology, but also sometimes eating crawfish), learn more about the Natural Infrastructure Graduate Fellowship here.
Many thanks to the professors who attended: Dr. Brian Bledsoe, Dr. Brock Woodson, Dr. Rhett Jackson (who also drove the van!). Thanks also to our awesome students that joined: Nick Austin, Liz Collins, Hattie Greydanus, Holly Mullins, Aurora Fowler, Madison LePain, Dennis Granados Duran, and Noah Cleveland.
