Siddharth Narayan
​Assistant Professor
[email protected]

Dr. Siddharth Narayan (Sid) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Coastal Studies at East Carolina University. He received an MSc in Coastal Engineering and Management from T.U. Delft in the Netherlands before completing a PhD in coastal flood modeling at the University of Southampton, U.K. He spent the next four years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz working on nature-based adaptation to coastal hazards. Now in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Sid's work focuses on modeling and measuring the physical and economic effectiveness of adaptation strategies to coastal hazards and sea-level rise,  particularly nature-based adaptation.  

Postdocs

Zaid Al-Attabi 
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
[email protected]

Dr. Al-Attabi received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Basrah in Iraq. He finished his doctorate from the University of South Carolina in the School of the Earth Ocean and Environment, where he focused on using high-frequency radar signals to measure ocean wave spectra. His doctoral research falls within the area of physical oceanography. In his new position as a postdoctoral researcher, he is working with Dr. Siddharth Narayan on numerical modeling to simulate the interaction of waves, surges and other processes with vegetation and reefs in coastal environments.  

Graduate Students


Yicheng Xu 
Ph.D. Student
[email protected]

Yicheng is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Coastal Sciences Ph.D. Program at East Carolina University. He received a BS in Geography, a BA in Latin American Studies and an MS in Urban Planning at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He was a research assistant at the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape at the University of Arizona from 2018 to 2020. He takes a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of GIS, Sustainable Environmental Built, Ecosystem Services Studies, Urban Planning, and Landscape Architecture Design.

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Georgette Tso
Ph.D. Student
[email protected]

Georgette is a Ph.D. Student in the Interdisciplinary Coastal Sciences Ph.D. Program at East Carolina University. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.Eng. in Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In Boston, she studied novel concrete materials for living seawall construction. At ECU, she works with Dr. Siddharth Narayan and Dr. Rachel Gittman on optimizing oyster reef breakwater design for wave attenuation and ecological benefits. 


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Mariela Garcia-Vega
Ph.D. Student
[email protected]

Mariela is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Coastal Sciences Ph.D. Program at East Carolina University. Mariela has a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences with a double major in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. She is interested in coastal ecosystem services, community-based management and coastal management and policy. Mariela is working with Dr. Nadine Heck and Dr. Siddharth Narayan on understanding the dynamics between ecosystem management and flood protection ecosystem services in Puerto Rico.
Lab Alumni 
Ananth Wuppukondur
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India
Dr. Wuppukondur is collaborating with us on several projects investigating how the loss of mangrove cover can increase flood risks in coastal regions, funded by NASA, NSF, and the WWF.