Legendary Professor Emeritus Paul Komar from the 2018 ASBPA National Conference

September 26, 2021

Gearing up for this year's conference, we go back to 2018!

On this special rebroadcast, Peter A. Ravella and Tyler Buckingham are joined by Paul Komar, emeritus Professor of Oceanography at Oregon State University, where he has been on the faculty since 1970. He received a M.S. degree in Geology at the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Professor Komar's research interests have focused primarily on coastal processes, including investigations of wave-induced nearshore currents and the resulting transport of beach sediments. His recent research has centered on the climate controls on U.S. West Coast processes and the resulting erosion problems, including those associated with occurrences of major El Ninos and a progressive increase in North Pacific wave heights. As well as having undertaken research along the West Coast of the United States, Professor Komar's investigations have included the Nile Delta of Egypt and the coast of New Zealand. He is author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and two books including Beach Processes and Sedimentation published by Prentice-Hall (1976 and 1998). Paul gave the keynote address at the ASBPA Awards Luncheon at the 2018 National Conference, where we recorded this show.

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.