Funded PhD opportunity starting Spring 2026

[Robert Weaver]

PhD Opportunity

Florida Institute of Technology, in partnership with UCF and FDEP, has recently been awarded funding to study the impacts of engineered ocean inflow on estuarine circulation and health.  This is a multi-institution, multi-agency project with the opportunity to work with a team of scientists and engineers.  As part of this project a temporary pumping station designed by my team at FIT will be built and operated for one year, with the goal of assessing the impact of enhancing ocean circulation on the improving the health of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on Florida's east coast. 

Starting in Spring 2026, I have an open PhD position related to this project that combines engineering design, coastal modeling, and measuring the interaction between the coastal ocean and IRL a restricted estuary.  

This project will explore how that interaction changes with engineered interventions, and how climate related changes to coastal ocean circulation may impact the health of the estuary. Our team will be deploying instrumentation including ADCP's to measure flow adjacent to the inflow pump station and deeper in the estuary,  providing valuable validation data for a high-resolution circulation model of the region. 

Applicants must be able to start in January 2026, and have the ability to work in the US, either as a US citizen or currently hold a visa. 

If you are interested, please send your CV and a cover letter including your research interests and experience to rjwe...@fit.edu.  

Regards,

-Robert

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Robert J. Weaver, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering
Department Ocean Engineering & Marine Sciences
Florida Institute of Technology
150 West University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901-6795
Office:321-674-7273; E-mail:rjwe...@fit.edu

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