Increasing climate change-driven coastal hazards (raising sea levels, storm intensification, and compound flooding) together with increased exposure (coastal construction and population growth) is enhancing risk along US shorelines. In the past 8 years, Florida has been impacted by five major hurricanes, each causing billions of dollars in damages and numerous fatalities. Three of these storms are in the top ten most intense storms to landfall in Florida (Michael 2018, Ian 2022, and Irma 2017), and 2024 is predicted to again be an above-normal season. Florida cities are also experiencing increased sunny-day flooding during the highest tides due to sea level rise and subsidence. Traditional “gray” coastal engineering approaches (e.g., seawalls, breakwaters, groins) to lower flood and erosion risk can negatively impact the coastal system and disconnect people from coastal amenities. These approaches are also challenging to adapt for nonstationary in the hazard. Nature-based solutions (e.g., beach nourishment, reefs, vegetated features) are gaining in popularity and have the potential advantage of natural adaptation, but nature-based solutions require larger footprints to implement and can be ineffective under extreme hazards (e.g., large hurricane waves and storm surge). Hybrid solutions combining hard and soft (gray and green) approaches are an area of active investigation. This presentation will discuss the evolving hazards and hybrid approaches to coastal risk reduction.

Smith is a Research Professor at University of Florida and an Emeritus Senior Research Scientist at the US Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. She earned a PhD from University of Delaware in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Coastal Engineering. Her research focus is on coastal hydrodynamics, including nearshore waves and currents, shallow-water wave processes, and storm surge. Her projects include theoretical and numerical studies as well laboratory and field experimentation. Smith is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Distinguished Member of American Society of Civil Engineers. She received the 2022 International Coastal Engineering Award. Smith serves on editorial boards for Coastal Engineering; Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering; and Frontiers in Built Environment and is a member of the Marine Board of the National Academies. She has over 200 professional publications.