Ephraim Bryski, a Senior in our Undergraduate Program, is a Co-author of an article Focusing on Debris Motion and Orientation in Currents

Under the guidance of Dr. Farhadzadeh in the Coastal and Hydraulic Engineering Research Lab, Ephraim Bryski contributed to the group's research and is listed as a co-author in the recently published article "Probabilistic Analysis of Debris Motion in Steady-State Currents for Varying Initial Debris Orientation and Flow Velocity Conditions" found in the September 2021 edition of ASCE's Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. This is the first time Ephraim's contributions have been published and he has been recognized as a co-author. For this project, Ephraim mainly worked on image processing. The experiment studied the motion of debris, which the team modelled by repeatedly releasing a block in a current we ran in the wave flume. Ephraim wrote MATLAB code which tracked the block using video frames to find its position and orientation over time. Since he couldn't find any programs that were applicable, he developed it from scratch. Making the code work consistently and efficiently was a challenge.

Ephraim is also one of the winners of our inaugural Research Experience Fellowship, awarded Spring 2021. He is conducting research with Dr. Farhadzadeh again this summer. Ephraim's main interest is coastal engineering, "because I enjoy analyzing the incredible complexities of natural systems. A favorite example of mine is the interaction between fluids and solids. Specifically, waves crash into the coast, gradually shaping it, which then changes how the water behaves." You can read more about Ephraim's research award and interests to learn more about this outstanding undergraduate student.