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The Institute for Coastal Adaptation & Resilience (ICAR) advances the practice of coastal resilience and adaptation by engaging with communities, organizations, and businesses to develop and deploy solutions based on integrated, innovative, and applied research. This position is part of the launch of a unique collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).

In support, ODU is hiring a 12-month research professor (associate or assistant rank) with an interest in green infrastructure. The ideal candidate may come from a variety of disciplines, as long as their focus includes some aspect of planning for, designing, engineering, financing, permitting, and/or implementing green infrastructure solutions at local or state levels. The candidate will join a cohort of research faculty that unites the resources of ODU and CBF to assist localities, communities, organizations, and businesses in meeting the Commonwealth of Virginia’s coastal resilience goals. They will join existing ICAR-CBF research faculty in coastal engineering and urban ecology, and an additional faculty member to be hired focusing broadly on resilience economics and/or financing. ICAR and CBF identified these areas of need in collaboration with stakeholders to fill critical gaps in innovation and technical assistance needed to build resilience and support adaptation at the local, regional, and state levels.

We seek a faculty member who is enthusiastic about applying their knowledge and skills from their field to help partner communities maximize their use of green infrastructure. Past experience and disciplinary background could come from planning, natural resource management, design, hydrology, engineering, environmental science, or related fields. Most importantly, the successful candidate should be passionate about conducting applied research and translating science to action to assist localities, communities, organizations, and businesses with making measurable progress toward resilience and adaptation goals that maximize the use of natural and nature-based features. This faculty hire will work collaboratively as part of an ICAR research faculty cohort and with other ODU teaching and research faculty, CBF, other ICAR partners, and end users across Virginia to:

About ODU: Located in Norfolk, Virginia, Old Dominion University (www.odu.edu) is a state-supported, entrepreneurial-minded Carnegie “R1: Doctoral Universities - Very high research activity” institution with over 24,000 students (of which almost 5,000 are graduate students) and 900 full-time faculty. Norfolk is a culturally rich, historic city and a major international maritime center in Hampton Roads, a metropolitan area of over 1.5 million people. The Hampton Roads region is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, yet also home to the world’s largest natural deep water port and third largest port on the East Coast, the Atlantic headquarters of NATO, and Naval Station Norfolk, which houses the U.S. Navy and U.S. Fleet Forces Command. This provides faculty with unique opportunities for deep, long-term engagement on resilience and adaptation by living and working as a part of these communities.

About the Institute for Coastal Adaptation & Resilience: ICAR was launched by an interdisciplinary group of faculty in 2018 to leverage over eight years of ODU investment and leadership in coastal adaptation and resilience scholarship. Buoyed by a $3 million endowment by Joan Perry Brock, ICAR hired an executive director in 2021 and embarked on an organization process to build an interdisciplinary center focused on leading fundamental and applied research, education, and engaged partnerships to develop practical solutions to the challenges coastal communities face. In 2023, ICAR is launching a faculty, student, and community partner affiliation program focused on sea level rise and climate science, social science and policy, flooding and built environments, and the health dimensions of coastal resilience. ICAR catalyzes the action needed to build vibrant communities, strong economies, and healthy ecosystems across the Commonwealth of Virginia despite natural hazards and climate change.

About the Chesapeake Bay Foundation: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the Chesapeake Bay, with more than 91,000 members around Virginia. The CBF advocates for effective, science-based solutions to pollution impacting the Bay, its rivers, and its streams. CBF engages on climate resilience and adaptation in recognition that climate change and its resulting impacts could lead to additional pollution loads to the Bay. As Virginia’s localities, organizations, businesses, and people act to implement solutions that reduce climate change risk, CBF seeks to ensure that these actions also benefit the outcome of Virginia’s clean water blueprint (https://www.cbf.org/how-we-save-the-bay/chesapeake-clean-water-blueprint/state-watershed-implementation-plans/virginia/index.html). This ICAR-CBF research faculty cohort will play a critical role in ensuring that fundamental and applied research informs decision-making on climate resilience and adaptation action throughout coastal Virginia. Successful candidates will be able to work across ODU and CBF, as well as the numerous localities, organizations, state agencies, and businesses that partner with ICAR and CBF.