Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at Notre Dame

Andrew Kennedy Assistant Professor

Biography Andrew Kennedy obtained his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Queen's University, Canada, and his master's degree from the University of British Columbia. Professor Kennedy attended Monash University, Australia for his Ph.D., graduating in 1998. He was then a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Applied Coastal Research at the University of Delaware before accepting a faculty position at the University of Florida. He came to Notre Dame in 2008.

Research Interests Professor Kennedy's research focuses on waves, surge, and currents in the coastal ocean and their effects on human activities. Parts of this work are observational, ranging from the rapid deployment of wave and surge gauges in advance of hurricane landfalls, to the analysis of very large-scale bathymetric lidar datasets to determine morphological changes during large storms. A recent focus correlates observed storm damage to observed and predicted hydrodynamics in coastal regions. Parts of Professor Kennedy's research are theoretical and computational, and deal with water wave theory in shallow and deep water, and in the generation of near-shore circulation by breaking waves.

This work has direct application to the prediction of storm waves and water levels, damage, and erosion. Undergraduate, master's, Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers in the Coastal Hydraulics Lab are currently working on a range of topics. Projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, Joint Airborne Lidar Technical Center of Expertise, US Geological Survey, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Florida Sea Grant, among others.

Recent Papers (Full Journal Publication List)

Arifin, R.R., and Kennedy, A.B. (2011). “The evolution of large scale crescentic bars on the northern Gulf of Mexico Coast”, Marine Geology, 285, 46-58.

Kennedy, A.B., Gravois, U., and Zachry, B. (2011). “Observations of landfalling wave spectra during Hurricane Ike”, J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Eng.-ASCE, 137(3), 142-145, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000081.

Kennedy, A.B., Rogers, S., Sallenger, A., Gravois, U., Zachry, B., Dosa, M., and Zarama, F. (2011). “Building Destruction from Waves and Surge on the Bolivar Peninsula during Hurricane Ike," J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Eng.-ASCE, 137(3), 132-141, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000061.

Kennedy, A.B., Gravois, U., Zachry, B.C., Westerink, J.J., Hope, M.E., Dietrich, J.C., Powell, M.D., Cox, A.T., Luettich, R.L., and Dean, R.G. (2011). “Origin of the Hurricane Ike forerunner surge”, GeoPhys. Res. Lett., L08805, doi:10.1029/2011GL047090.

Kennedy, A.B., Gravois, U., Zachry, B., Luettich, R., Whipple, T. Weaver, R., Reynolds-Fleming, J. Chen, Q., and Avissar, R. (2010). "Rapidly installed temporary gauging for waves and surge, and application to Hurricane Gustav," Continental Shelf Research, 30, 1743-1752. (Also Reviewed in Nature Geoscience. 3(10), 750.)

Kennedy, A.B., Slatton, K.C., Starek, M, Kampa, K., and Cho, H.-C. (2010). "Hurricane response of nearshore borrow pits from airborne bathymetric lidar", J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Eng.-ASCE, 136(1), 46-58.

Zhang, Y., and Kennedy, A.B. (2010). "Moments-Based Reduced Spectral Wave Modeling of Frequency-and-Directional Spreading Effects on Wave-Induced Longshore Currents," J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Eng.-ASCE, 136(4), 200-214.

Kennedy, A.B., and Zhang, Y. (2008). "The stability of wave-driven rip current circulation," J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 113, (C03031), doi:10.1029/2006JC003814.

Kennedy, A.B., Slatton, K.C., Hsu, T.-J., Starek, M.J., and Kampa, K. (2008). "Ephemeral sand waves in the hurricane surf zone," Marine Geology, 250, 276-280.

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Contact Information Office: 168 Fitzpatrick
Phone: 574-631-6686
Email: Andrew.kennedy(at)nd.edu
Web: http://www.nd.edu/~akenned4/

Primary Research Areas Environmental Fluid Dynamics

Research Specialties Water Waves
Coastal Engineering
Nearshore Hydrodynamics
Storms and Storm Effects

Graduate Students Victoria Tomiczek
Mike Hartman
Yao Zhang

Postdoctoral ResearchersWeiming Li

Undergraduate Students Francisco Zarama
Madeleine Hamman
Hannah Darst

Courses CE 30460 Fluid Mechanics
CE 40450 Hydraulics
CE 60255 Water Waves