A number of partners from the Network for Engineering With Nature were represented at the American Society for Civil Engineers’ INSPIRE Conference November 16-18, 2023, in Arlington, VA. Under the theme ‘Infrastructure Innovation & Adaptation for a Sustainable and Resilient World,’ the conference provided a platform for experts to showcase their groundbreaking work related to Nature-based Solutions (NbS), quantifying tools, and training/education. Many of our affiliates gave presentations, shared posters, or spoke in workshops and panels. Check out this list of topics shared by our partners from across the country.

Workshop on Nature-Based Solutions

Instructors: Brian Bledsoe, Dan Walker, Emily Corwin, Tori Tomiczek and Lydia Olander

This Workshop on NbS was designed to determine what guidance is needed to support sound engineering design, to develop manuals of practice, performance standards, and training curricula on the topic of natural and nature-based infrastructure solutions. These solutions are deployed in a network/systems context to ensure appropriate and effective applications that work together with conventional infrastructure to strengthen the overall infrastructure system. Natural and nature-based infrastructure includes river floodplains, setback levees, forested water supply, watersheds, freshwater and coastal wetlands, living shorelines, dune and beach systems, living breakwaters and reefs, as well as landscape level interactions among these features and with conventional infrastructure. Nature based solutions (NbS) are sustainable planning, design, environmental management and engineering practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience.

Panels

• Assessing Nature-Based Coastal Flood Risk Management Measures – Candice Piercy (ERDC)
• Natural Infrastructure and Engineering With Nature, Training and Education – Brian Bledsoe, Kyle McKay, Candice Piercy, Ellen Herbert and Tori Tomiczek 
• Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Urban Stream Restoration – Liya Abera (ERDC)

Presentations

• Designing Salt Marsh Landscapes for Flood Protection – Matt Bilskie (UGA)
• Ecologically Engineered Solutions for Resilient Port Infrastructure – Rachel Krasna (ECOncrete)
• A Resilient Texas Coastline – Aligning Our Natural and Built Infrastructure for the Future – Chris Levitz (AECOM)
• Life Cycle Considerations for Swan Island, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland – Emily Russ (ERDC)
• Rapid Flood Inundation Mapping and Consequence Estimation along Rivers and Coasts using the Life Safety Risk Index (LSRI) Web Tool – Garrett Menichino (ERDC)
• Quantifying the Benefits of Nature-based Design in Federal Flood Management Infrastructure – Matt Chambers (UGA)
• Engineering With Nature to Enhance Environmental Resilience to Coastal Erosion and Flooding – Lauren Bosche (ERDC)

Posters

• Lock-in: Origination and Significance within Infrastructure Systems – Alysha Helmrich (UGA)
• Socioeconomic Value of Salt Marsh Ecosystems For People and Property in Georgia – Matt Bilskie (UGA)

Learn more about the Network for Engineering With Nature.