Heidi_Nepf

Heidi Nepf

Heidi Nepf

American engineer

Heidi Nepf is an American engineer known for her research on fluid flows around aquatic vegetation.

Quick Facts Alma mater, Thesis ...

Education and career

Nepf has a B.S. from Bucknell University (1987) and an M.S. from Stanford University (1988).[1] Nepf earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University in 1992 with a dissertation titled "The production and mixing effects of Langmuir circulations".[2] Following her Ph.D., Nepf was a postdoctoral scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and then joined the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993.[3] As of 2021, she is the Donald and Martha Harleman Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2018, Nepf was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the citation reads:[4]

For seminal contributions to the theory, modeling, and environmental applications of flow and transport through aquatic vegetation.

Research

Nepf is known for her research on the flow of water around aquatic vegetation. In 1999, she developed a model describing how aquatic plants convert kinetic energy into turbulent energy.[5] She has furthered this research by examining the flow of water around plants[6][7] and characterizing sediment flow through coastal marshes and mangroves.[8][9] Using artificial seagrass beds, Nepf and her graduate student Judy Yang determined that turbulence is a good predictor of sediment flow through a seagrass bed.[10][11] Nepf and another graduate student, Jiarui Lei, used similar artificial seagrass reefs to quantify the dissipation of energy by seagrass[12][13] and their results indicate seagrass can protect coastlines that are vulnerable to erosion.[14][15] Nepf's research on water flow around logjams[16] informs river restoration projects by theoretically describing the flow of water around wood placed into a stream.[17] Nepf has also worked on fluid flows in urban regions, specifically on how capturing storm water can be used to control urban flood damage.[18][19]

Selected publications

  • Nepf, H. M. (1999). "Drag, turbulence, and diffusion in flow through emergent vegetation". Water Resources Research. 35 (2): 479–489. Bibcode:1999WRR....35..479N. doi:10.1029/1998WR900069. hdl:1721.1/68641. ISSN 1944-7973. S2CID 15673312.
  • Nepf, Heidi M. (2011-12-23). "Flow and Transport in Regions with Aquatic Vegetation". Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 44 (1): 123–142. doi:10.1146/annurev-fluid-120710-101048. ISSN 0066-4189.

Awards

  • MacVicar Fellow for "excellence in teaching and innovation in education", Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001)[20][3]
  • Distinguished alumni, Bucknell University (2013)[21]
  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2018)[4]
  • Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (2019)[22]

References

  1. [1]
    "Heidi Nepf". Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  2. [2]
    Nepf, Heidi Margaret (1992). The production and mixing effects of Langmuir circulations (Ph.D.). Stanford University. OCLC 38710801.
  3. [3]
    "Six are named as MacVicar Fellows". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  4. [4]
    "Celebrating the 2018 Class of Fellows". Eos. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  5. [5]
    Nepf, H. M. (1999). "Drag, turbulence, and diffusion in flow through emergent vegetation". Water Resources Research. 35 (2): 479–489. Bibcode:1999WRR....35..479N. doi:10.1029/1998WR900069. hdl:1721.1/68641. ISSN 1944-7973. S2CID 15673312.
  6. [6]
    Brehm, Denise (January 31, 2008). "River plants may play major role in health of ocean coastal waters". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  7. [7]
    White, Brian L.; Nepf, Heidi M. (2007-12-25). "Shear instability and coherent structures in shallow flow adjacent to a porous layer". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 593: 1–32. Bibcode:2007JFM...593....1W. doi:10.1017/S0022112007008415. hdl:1912/2607. ISSN 0022-1120. S2CID 14756812.
  8. [8]
    Chu, Jennifer (June 16, 2015). "Predicting sediment flow in coastal vegetation". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  9. [9]
    Liu, Chao; Nepf, Heidi (2016). "Sediment deposition within and around a finite patch of model vegetation over a range of channel velocity". Water Resources Research. 52 (1): 600–612. Bibcode:2016WRR....52..600L. doi:10.1002/2015WR018249. hdl:1721.1/111614. ISSN 1944-7973. S2CID 56104591.
  10. [10]
    Sidder, Aaron (May 23, 2019). "New Study Shifts Paradigm of Coastal Sediment Modeling". Eos. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  11. [11]
    Yang, J. Q.; Nepf, H. M. (2018). "A Turbulence-Based Bed-Load Transport Model for Bare and Vegetated Channels". Geophysical Research Letters. 45 (19): 10, 428–10, 436. Bibcode:2018GeoRL..4510428Y. doi:10.1029/2018GL079319. hdl:1721.1/118611. ISSN 1944-8007. S2CID 133993554.
  12. [12]
    Lei, Jiarui; Nepf, Heidi (2019-05-01). "Wave damping by flexible vegetation: Connecting individual blade dynamics to the meadow scale". Coastal Engineering. 147: 138–148. doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2019.01.008. hdl:1721.1/126709. ISSN 0378-3839. S2CID 135146099.
  13. [13]
    Lei, Jiarui; Nepf, Heidi (2019-05-01). "Blade dynamics in combined waves and current". Journal of Fluids and Structures. 87: 137–149. Bibcode:2019JFS....87..137L. doi:10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2019.03.020. hdl:1721.1/126720. ISSN 0889-9746. S2CID 133353325.
  14. [14]
    Chandler, David (May 2, 2019). "Study demonstrates seagrass' strong potential for curbing erosion". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  15. [15]
    "Seagrass' strong potential for curbing erosion: Ubiquitous marine plants dissipate wave energy and could help protect vulnerable shorelines". ScienceDaily. May 3, 2019. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  16. [16]
    Follett, E.; Schalko, I.; Nepf, H. (2020). "Momentum and Energy Predict the Backwater Rise Generated by a Large Wood Jam". Geophysical Research Letters. 47 (17): e2020GL089346. Bibcode:2020GeoRL..4789346F. doi:10.1029/2020GL089346. hdl:1721.1/127656. ISSN 1944-8007. S2CID 224939972.
  17. [17]
    "MIT researchers highlight the impacts of logjams in river restoration projects". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  18. [18]
    Guzman, Celina Balderas; Cohen, Samantha; Xavier, Manoel; Swingle, Tyler; Qiu, Waishan; Nepf, Heidi (2018-07-01). "Island topographies to reduce short-circuiting in stormwater detention ponds and treatment wetlands". Ecological Engineering. 117: 182–193. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.02.020. hdl:1721.1/123466. ISSN 0925-8574. S2CID 103156123.
  19. [19]
    Friar, Greta (July 12, 2018). "A solution for urban storm flooding". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  20. [20]
    "Former MacVicar Fellows | MIT Registrar". registrar.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  21. [21]
    "Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award". www.bucknell.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  22. [22]
    "Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award | ASCE". www.asce.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
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