Travis Swanson, a geoscientist, has years of experience in the development and application of numerical models using modern high-level computer languages and application of pre-existing models to simulate geomorphic, hydrodynamic, and geologic phenomenon.

Prior to joining The Water Institute, Swanson was an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University in the Department of Geology and Geography from 2019 to 2023 where he was a research mentor in fluvial geomorphology, physical sedimentology, and chemical hydrology. Prior to that he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Rice University in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

Some of his recent prior collaborations on simulating coastal change include a project where he mentored the application of an existing shoreline model (ShorelineS, a reduced complexity shoreline model) to investigate a significant engineering challenge: Why delta lobe orientation to wave climate along the Yellow River Deltas is unable to explain why land loss is greater for engineered deltaic avulsions when compared to natural abandoned delta lobe avulsion. In another recent collaboration at Sargent Beach in Texas, a combination of remotely sensed and in-situ erosion measurements were combined to inform a data-driven model that connects rapid post-storm rates of mud cliff erosion to storm-generated changes in cliff shape and sediment cover.

Swanson received his bachelor’s degree in hydrogeology, master’s in geological sciences, and Ph.D. in geological sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. More information at Swanson’s homepage or at google scholar here.