Courtney K. Harris

Alumni Memorial Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Marine Science

Email: [[ckharris]]
Phone: (804) 684-7194
Office: Andrews Hall 238
Department: Physical Sciences

Education

• B.S., University of Virginia
• M.S., University of California, Berkeley
• M.S., Ph.D., University of Virginia

Research Interests

My research has been directed at improving our ability to quantify and predict sediment transport on continental shelves over a variety of temporal and spatial scales. I have been involved in interdisciplinary projects that considered interactions between shelf sediment transport and small scale stratigraphy, sediment budgets, geochemistry, coastal oceanography, and climatology. Involvement in large experiments has involved collaboration with field oceanographers and geologists that has benefited my research focus of numerically modeling suspended sediment transport on shelves. Current research includes developing models of the processes that distribute fluvially-derived sediment on the Italian side of the Adriatic Sea,  and off-shore of the Eel River, northern California. I am also involved in a field- and modeling-investigation aimed at quantifying sediment redistribution in the New York Bight. My collaborative experiences have convinced me that we can make the best strides by building models and tools that are available to the research community as a whole. I am therefore active in a group of oceanographers and geologists who are working to develop a community sediment transport model by developing and testing numerical models that account for sediment transport and oceanographic circulation.

Current Projects

• MUDBED: response of fine-grained sediment transport to biological and physical processes. Funded by NSF.
• MARGINS Source-to-Sink transport: the Waipaoa River nearshore and shelf environment. Funded by NSF.
• NGOMEX 2006 - Mechanisms Controlling Hypoxia: Process Studies. Funded by NOAA.
• Sediment dispersal and reworking in the north-western Adriatic. Funded by the Office of Naval Research.
• Sediment roughness estimates in Chesapeake Bay, funded by the EPA.

• Dispersal off of the Waiapu River, New Zealand, funded by NSF.

Current Students

• Aaron Bever, M.S. Student
• Yanxia (Peony) Ma, Ph.D. Candidate
• J.Paul Rinehimer, M.S. Candidate

Past Students

• Aaron Bever, M.S., 2006. Physical processes behind delta propagation and flood layer dynamics: Po River, Italy.
• Tara Kniskern, Ph.D. 2007. (co-advised with Steve Kuehl). 

Courses Taught

• MSCI 554:  Principles of Numerical Computing. (Fall, Even Years)
• MSCI 553: Bottom Boundary Layers and Sediment Transport (Fall, Even Years).
• MSCI 502:  Coastal and Estuarine Processes & Issues (Spring, Every Year).
• MSCI 520: Principles of Coastal and Estuarine Physical Oceanography (Spring, Every Three Years)
• MSCI 698(03):  Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments.

Other Educational Activities

• Chair, Academic Status and Degrees Committee

Faculty/Student Awards

• 2007 – Present  Alumni Memorial Term Distinguished Associate Professor, College of William and Mary
• 1998 – 2001 U.S.G.S. Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 1996 NASA Global Climate Change Fellow
• 1995 Governor's Fellowship, University of Virginia
• 1990 - 1992 Dupont Fellowship, University of Virginia

Professional Membership Committees

• American Geophysical Union
• Tau Beta Pi
• Editorial Advisory Board, Continental Shelf Research

Collaborative Interdisciplinary Efforts

• Impact of sediment resuspension and sediment bed processes on formation of hypoxic areas in the Gulf of Mexico as part of NGOMEX. Collaborators include Rob Hetland (TAMU), Katja Fennel (Dalhousie), and Steve DiMarco (TAMU).
• Working to upscale event-timescale sediment transport and depositional processes for incorporation into stratigraphic timescale models as part of Margins Source-to-Sink. Collaborators include Drs. Jesse McNinch (VIMS) and John Swenson (U. Minnesota, Duluth).
• Incorporating biological processes into sediment resuspension calculations as part of MUDBED. Collaborators at VIMS include Drs. Carl Friedrichs, Steve Kuehl, Linda Schaffner, Bob Diaz, and Jesse McNinch. We are also working with Dr. Larry Sanford (UMCES).
• Linking oceanographic, atmospheric, and geologic models in the Adriatic Sea with Drs. Julie Pullen, Jim Doyle (both at NRL-Monterey), and Rich Signell (SACLANT-CEN)