From May 16th to 20th, 2022, our Chief Representative Bee Kothuis led a field trip to the Netherlands with 15 students and 5 professors from Texas A&M University Galveston, Rice University Houston and University of Puerto Rico under the program “National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)”.
Since 2015, Texas A&M has been working in partnership with the Netherlands in a Coastal Flood Risk Reduction Program (FRRP), “an international collaboration that supports excellence in research and learning across the engineering and management sciences, leading to new knowledge that will transform the way floods are dealt within the U.S and around the world”.
Under this program, over 60 researchers from Texas have visited the Netherlands collaborating with Delft University of Technology, Rijkswaterstaat, and multiple Waterschappen who gave them opportunities to visit several famous and innovative Dutch water works, like the Maeslant storm surge barrier, the Zandmotor, the Markerwadden mud motor and Room for the River projects. The many years of collaboration between students and professors on both sides of the ocean lead to rich exchange.
Professor Dr. Sam Brody (PIRE Program leader) concluded: “We are excited to be able to execute our exchange again. This year’s cohort is much looking forward to putting in practice this experience based on multidisciplinary place-based research along the North Sea Coast and in the Lake IJssel area. We will continue working with academics, government and businesses from the Netherlands to keep both Dutch and Texas coastal areas flood resilient.”
