2025 has been an eventful year for IRIS! As part of our annual, end-of-year tradition we’ve collected 25 papers from across 2025 (ordered by publication month) that showcase our unique interdisciplinary focus.
The Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems was chartered by the University of Georgia in late 2016. If you’d like to join us in our commitment to a resilient future, support our work right here.
* = Not all authors listed
1. The potential of wetlands and barrier islands as a coastal defense in mitigating the storm surge – Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Aditya Gupta, Matthew Bilskie, Brock Woodson
Nature is always working, and ecosystems like barrier islands and coastal wetlands have a seriously important job: these structured shorelines take the force of hurricanes, protecting inland areas from storm surge and flooding. In this paper, an IRIS team uses a new approach to determining the capacity of coastal islands to reduce wave forces.
Read if: You find hurricane season scary, and want to know more about how the coast can protect you.
2. Reorienting urban stream management to focus on equitable delivery of benefits – PLOS Water
Seth Wenger, Brian Bledsoe, Krista Capps, Rhett Jackson, Charles van Rees*
Stream restoration projects often focus on fixing as many environmental problems as possible. While that sounds ideal, in practice it means that sometimes restoration efforts focus too heavily on streams that are already doing better–and leads resources away from the most degraded streams. These streams are often in low-income areas with few resources to improve water quality. In order to better deliver water quality benefits to every community, this team suggests broadening the “restorative” focus to include a wider evaluation of each stream’s context.
Read if: You live in a city and your local stream has a weird foam on top that you’re not sure what to do about.
3. Interdependency classification: a framework for infrastructure resilience – Environmental Research Infrastructure and Sustainability
Negin Shamsi and Alysha Helmrich
Our critical infrastructure–phone lines, roads, emergency services, utilities, financial institutions, etc–are increasingly tied together in complex networks. Some relationships are simple: coal production relies on rail networks for transportation, and the trains in said networks rely on coal for fuel. But in a modern world with a global economy, things are a bit more complicated. When those systems experience failure, results cascade throughout the entire network. This paper explores these interdependent systems and classifies them into groups and patterns, helping to see the full picture when something goes wrong.
Read if: You always wondered why the COVID-19 pandemic so dramatically influenced the toilet paper aisle.
4. Expert Review: Confronting climate-driven heat risks to maternal and fetal health – Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey
Marshall Shepherd*
This might be the first time we’ve discussed one of our researchers publishing with an Obstetrics and Gynecology journal–resilience research really does apply to every field! Atmospheric scientist Marshall Shepherd contributed expertise to this paper on environmental risks to maternal and fetal health. As extreme heat becomes more common, human reproductive health faces new threats for obstetric providers to be aware of.
Read if: You’re pregnant–especially if you’re due in August. Alternatively, read if you are a doctor with pregnant patients!
5. Modeling the impacts of sand placement strategies on barrier island evolution in a semi-enclosed bay system – Coastal Engineering
Matthew Bilskie*
Environmental restoration, customized to your site: this study assesses proposed restoration actions at Little Dauphin Island on the Alabama coast by simulating how each idea would respond to stormwater from a hurricane. There are arguments for several of the proposed ideas’ benefits, but the main result? No action was no good.
Read if: You’re wondering what “natural infrastructure” even means. (Then come back here and we’ll talk more.)
6. Grasping at water: a gap-oriented approach to bridging shortfalls in freshwater biodiversity conservation – Biological Reviews
Charles van Rees*
Biodiversity is threatened all over the world, but freshwater species are some of the fastest declining. This paper looks to identify the gaps in knowledge, governance and implementation in the conservation process for freshwater biodiversity.
Read if: You like to go fishing. Has it gotten harder to catch things lately, or is it just me?
7. A technique for stream geometry estimation based on watershed morphometric dynamics – Environmental Modeling & Software
Orlando Viloria-Marimon, Felix Santiago-Collazo, Brian Bledsoe*
The ability to predict flood events is a critical aspect of disaster preparedness and resilience. This paper from the Compound Inundation Team for Resilient Applications (CITRA) explored a different approach to hydrologic monitoring that relies on less complex data, allowing watershed managers to model riverine flooding without long-term monitoring. The approach was tested in Puerto Rico, a region heavily impacted by flooding and often short on monitoring tools.
Read if: You’re seeing the major flooding in the Northwest right now and worried. Same here–but when we can predict floods in advance, we can keep more people safe.
8. Evaluating Options for Improving Drought Resilience of the Upper Flint River System – EPD Report
Seth Wenger, Rhett Jackson, Mary Freeman*
This publication from our friends at the River Basin Center is a report created in collaboration with the Georgia Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and non-profit American Rivers in order to create drought response plans for the Flint River– the system that supplies over 400,000 residents across Atlanta and central Georgia with drinking water. Learn more about this collaboration for resilient resources here.
Read if: You’re interested in where your water comes from, and want to learn more about the people working to make sure you have access to it.
9. Integrating Nature-based Solutions for urban water security in global south – PLOS Water
Charles van Rees, Cydney Seigerman, Donald Nelson, John Aliu*
Everyone needs safe water. Urban water management involves making sure everyone has it. With a team including several IRIS authors plus several of our colleagues through the Network for Engineering With Nature (N-EWN), this paper discusses the context, challenges and opportunities for improving water security in the Global South, and how nature-based solutions might benefit this goal.
Read if: You’re a big fan of Sustainable Development Goal 6.
10. Leveraging Ecological Theory to Maximize Biodiversity of Nature-Based Solutions at Landscape Scales – Preprint
Charles van Rees, Matthew Bilskie, James Byers, Jon Calabria, Matt Chambers, Dan Coleman, Katie Foster, Alec Nelson, Seth Wenger, Brock Woodson*
Another large team of IRIS researchers and partners through N-EWN, this paper examines the relationship between nature-based solutions and how ecosystems work. The point of a solution being nature-based is to incorporate ecosystem features and functions into engineering: solving problems in a way that works with the planet’s design, not against it. This team works through an ecology lens to make the case for this eco-engineering field.
Read if: You’re an environmental scientist and you’re not sure how this whole “nature-based solutions” thing relates to you–alternatively, you’re an engineer and ditto. (You should both read it.)
11. Early warning signs of salt marsh drowning indicated by widespread vulnerability from declining belowground plant biomass – PNAS
Merryl Alber*
Georgia’s coastline is full of beautiful salt marshes, but looking past the surface, they might be in danger. This team evaluated belowground biomass, or the amount of living material under the surface, to see what’s supporting coastal wetlands. Their results were concerning: this material is on the decline, decreasing by roughly three-quarters since 2014. When salt marshes sink, it’s not just a lost vacation spot–it’s a major threat to coastal storm resilience. Read more in the Savannah Morning News here.
Read if: You love watching sunsets over the coast, and don’t want your Airbnb to sink into the muck…
12. Developing long-term risk & resilience management strategies for physical asset and critical infrastructure projects – Frontiers in Built Environment
Alysha Helmrich*
We’re big on resilient infrastructure–it’s in the name. That’s why we’re always excited to see papers like this one, which creates a plan for identifying context and complexities in infrastructure systems. Being able to handle surprises and disturbances is important for something like an electrical grid or a shipping network, and planning for context-specific risks can make that a lot easier.
Read if: You’re the Type-A logistics manager of your family.
13. Assessing outcomes of a field-oriented course in natural infrastructure – International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
John Aliu, Meredith Welch-Devine, Brian Bledsoe*
Featuring a closer look at IRIS’s own Field Course in Natural Infrastructure (available each spring!), this paper discusses the need for engineering training that looks beyond one discipline– and one classroom. Using our field-oriented course that takes students on a four-day intensive trip across coastal Georgia for hands-on learning experiences, the authors encourage other instructors, institutions and policymakers to consider the value of experience for engineering education.
Read if: You’re an educator looking for a reason to take your class outside!
14. Recommended Data Collection to Optimize Beneficial Reuse of Dredged Material: A Sediment Budget for the Savannah River Harbor – Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Oscar Villegas, Rhett Jackson, Matthew Bilskie, Mark Risse, Clark Alexander*
We take a lot of sediment (a.k.a, dirt) out of navigation channels through a process called dredging. What do we do with all of it? Many infrastructure managers and researchers alike are encouraging a process known as beneficial use, where that dredged sediment is taken to degrading ecosystems that need additional structure, such as wetlands and barrier islands. This paper presents a “sediment budget” for the Savannah River Harbor in Georgia, allowing managers on both sides to get all the dirt on when, where, and how much sediment is moving in the region.
Read if: You’re interested in how nature-based solutions work in practice.
15. Opportunities for Translational Water Research in Global Biodiversity Conservation – Water Resources Research
Charles van Rees*
Water research science is complicated: humans need water for drinking, showers, boats, data centers–and need to manage issues like unsafe drinking water, flooding and drought, and more–leading to the interdisciplinary field of research known as Translational Water Research. This paper argues that this so-called “science for solutions” has a place for conservation as well, and why aquatic biodiversity is part of the solution.
Read if: You think dolphins are cool and all, but don’t quite understand why scientists are so worried about biodiversity.
16. Prioritizing Urban Streams For Ecological Enhancement In The Southeast Piedmont Using A Structural Equation Modeling-Based Tool – Environmental Modeling & Software
Jon Calabria*
How do you decide which streams get cleaned up? That’s a question plenty of IRIS researchers are working to answer. In this study, landscape design researchers created a tool for identifying streams across the Southeast, from Tuscaloosa to D.C., with poor chemical, physical and/or wildlife qualities as potential candidates for restoration.
Read if: You want to know what makes a stream “healthy” or “not-so-healthy.”
17. Monitoring Harmful Algal Blooms in the Southern California Current Using Satellite Ocean Color and In Situ Data – Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Brock Woodson*
The ocean, famously, is blue. But as conditions change in our seas, harmful algal blooms are causing a lot of problems–including giving waves an excess of “Red Tide.” With an author team spanning ocean science programs across the globe, this paper uses color-detecting satellite technology to identify and learn more about these massive algal blooms off the coasts of Monterey Bay and Baja, California.
Read if: You’re the kind of person that *hates* when something touches your leg while swimming.
18. Economic valuation of ecosystem services and natural infrastructure: A quantitative review of the literature – Ecosystem Services
Garrett Stanford, Susana Ferreira, Craig Landry*
Money talks. That’s why natural resource economists are working to evaluate the economic value of natural processes like water filtration, storm protection, recreation value and more. These ecosystem services are offered by the planet free of charge, meaning it’s easy to underappreciate how helpful they are to us. This paper presents a review of the literature on the topic of valuation, and how we’re learning more about what the earth is worth.
Read if: You appreciate Mother Earth for what she is: a smart businesswoman.
19. On the equivalence between laboratory and field estimates of soil water retention parameters and its implications for modeling oxygen diffusion in structured agricultural soils – Vadose Zone Journal
Hariom Yadav, Nandita Gaur*
This paper presents important research on Soil Water Retention Parameters, or SWRPs, which are an important factor required by biogeochemical models used to estimate how elements move in and across soils. It’s important to know what’s happening in the soil if you want to maximize crop yields– but do SWRPs measured in labs actually represent what happens in real fields?
Read if: Your 2026 New Year’s Resolution is to eat more veggies.
20. Producing Trustworthiness in Studying What Works in Heterodox Curricular Interventions – Sage Journals
Elizabeth King, Nathan Nibbelink*
This author team came from departments across UGA to discuss how to make graduate education better. As organizations like the National Science Foundation push for STEM students to develop more creative and collaborative skills as part of their training, these educators are “on the ground” in the classroom, and share their thoughts and experience here.
Read if: You’re a professor interested in covertly doing experiments on your students–for their own good, of course.
21. An expert elicitation to inform coastal management decision-making for mitigating future hazards – Journal of Environmental Management
Matthew Bilskie*
Scientific experts from multiple organizations and universities came together to provide expert advice on coastal restoration to meet management goals. Coastal marshes, estuaries and barrier islands are complex ecosystems, often home to endangered wildlife, important industry and a whole lot of people: so how can restoration projects meet everyone’s needs?
Read if: You enjoy long walks on the beach and aren’t ready to give that up.
22. Climate-resilient fisheries are more resilient in general – NPJ Ocean Sustainability
Brock Woodson*
Fisheries are an important piece of the ocean conservation puzzle. This cross-disciplinary study of fisheries tested fishing units on their ability to respond to shocks like heatwaves and major market disturbances. They found that fisheries largely exhibited similar resistance to both types of shocks, especially smaller fisheries.
Read if: You love sushi, but worry it’s not sustainable.
23. Consequences of dam removal for reservoir carbon storage and emissions – Journal of Environmental Management
Laura Naslund, Amy Rosemond, Seth Wenger*
Removing a dam is a… dam big decision. IRIS alum Laura Naslund’s doctoral dissertation worked to show the relationship between dams and carbon emissions from the reservoirs they hold. Emission reduction is sometimes proposed as a benefit for dam removal, but this study showed that evaluating these gassy ponds might not be so simple.
Read if: You’ve heard a lot about dam removals lately, and want to know what happens afterward.
24. Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing Analysis for Removing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances from Landfill Leachate with Foam Fractionation Technology – ACS EST Water
Gengyang Li, Mason Peng, Ke Li*
PFAS is everywhere: in lubricants, fire extinguishers, and possibly your organs. This study evaluates the environmental and economic impacts of treatment technologies to remove PFAS from the contaminated leakage from landfills, with the hope of helping to remove some of the toxic substance from the environment.
Read if: You’re a little afraid of your nonstick pans.
25. Not so isolated: isotopic and hydraulic evidence of vertical connectivity between the Okefenokee Swamp and Floridan Aquifer – Environmental Research: Water
Rhett Jackson*
After decades of assuming the Okefenokee Swamp was hydrologically separate from the Floridian Aquifer beneath it, these researchers used chemistry to show their connection. Why is this such a big deal? There’s a lot of interest in mining near the Okefenokee–which, if it’s connected to the aquifer, could be a big problem for both.Read if: You want to spend the last two weeks of 2025 going down a 30+ year rabbit hole of science, policy and swamp drama. Yes, please.