Ian Walker

Professor, Department of Geography
Walker headshot

As a coastal and aeolian geomorphologist, my research explores the dynamics of the coastal margin and other sedimentary landscapes, particularly beach and dune ecosystems. My research spans a wide range of interests including the fundamentals of sediment transport and erosion processes, sedimentology, environmental fluid dynamics, beach-dune interaction, dune ecosystem restoration, relative sea level change and coastal landscape evolution, and dust emissions mitigation. As a physical geographer, I also examine issues that arise from human-environment interaction in coastal landscapes such as natural hazards associated with climatic variability events, coastal erosion, storms, flooding and longer-term climate change impacts in the coastal zone. My research program is highly collaborative and involves partnerships with multiple federal, state, and local partners and agencies as well as other research groups from around the world. My research investigates not only fundamental science questions, but also broader issues such as climate change adaptation strategy development, ecosystem restoration, and mitigating fugitive dust emissions from sedimentary landscapes to improve air quality.