In an event held Sept. 14 in the Glover Board Room of Correll Hall, Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions gathered with UGA and government officials to celebrate her city\u2019s partnership with the university over the past two years.<\/p>\n
UGA faculty and students have been working with Tybee leaders to develop a range of integrated strategies to increase the island\u2019s resilience in storm and flood events. Known as the Coastal Marsh and Community Resilience Adaptation Project<\/a>, the project has been funded by grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, as well as the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. UGA units such as the Skidaway Institute for Oceanography<\/a>, Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant<\/a>, and multiple academic units have been involved.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThis is just the beginning. It\u2019s really quite exciting to see young people solving these problems,\u201d Sessions said. \u201cI cannot tell you how much we\u2019ve learned together. Every day is more hopeful now, knowing that we will be able to live in a sustainable community.\u201d<\/p>\n Several significant initiatives have come about through this collaboration, such as engineering and landscape design capstone projects, as well as individual contributions from undergraduate and graduate students. Together, these efforts provided research-backed proposals to promote coastline resiliency, an issue that has increasingly concerned Tybee residents in the wake of violent hurricanes and rising sea levels.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil you\u2019re impacted significantly like Tybee Island, you might not understand the importance of coastline resiliency,\u201d said Clark Alexander, director of Skidaway. \u201cTybee\u2019s proactive stance has made a difference in this fight, and we\u2019re happy to partner with them to develop real-world solutions to their resiliency concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an event held Sept. 14 in the Glover Board Room of Correll Hall, Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions gathered with UGA and government officials to celebrate her city\u2019s partnership with the university over the past two years. UGA faculty and students have been working with Tybee leaders to develop a range of integrated strategies … <\/p>\n