Siddharth Narayan

Siddharth Narayan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Coastal Studies at East Carolina University. His research focuses on nature-based and sustainable adaptation strategies to coastal hazards and sea-level rise, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, ecology, and human geography. He holds adjunct roles in Engineering and Geography. His work is funded by major organizations like NSF, NASA, NOAA, and the IUCN.

Education: MSc in Coastal Engineering and Management from TU Delft (Netherlands), PhD in Coastal Flood Modeling from the University of Southampton (UK). Postdoctoral research at UC Santa Barbara/Santa Cruz explored nature-based adaptation strategies.

Research Interests

• Modeling physical/economic effectiveness of coastal adaptation strategies
• Quantifying ecosystem services from mangroves, coral reefs, and tidal wetlands
• Designing hybrid nature-based solutions for coastal resilience
• Assessing societal acceptance and policy frameworks for coastal interventions

Key Projects include NSF-funded studies on mangrove restoration in Bangladesh, NASA-supported research on cyclone feedback mechanisms, and USACE-funded oyster reef breakwater design optimization. He leads a lab actively engaged in global delta and island communities.

Awards include the 2024 Order of the Anchor Award and 2022 Early Career Researcher Trendsetter Award from ECU REDE.

His presentations span international conferences (e.g., AGU, COP28) and include topics like oyster reef restoration, mangrove conservation, and coral reef fragility analysis. Active in grant peer review (NSF) and collaborative frameworks like the Belmont Forum.