Statements of Research and Teaching

Arnoldo Valle-Levinson

From the information provided below, it is evident that since my arrival at UF in 2005 my professional interactions and collaborations have gravitated strongly toward colleagues at Geological Sciences. My main motivation to explore a move to Geological Sciences is twofold: a) ongoing collaborative activities promise to expand to sustained programs, which would be facilitated by co-location, and b) more widespread collaboration opportunities will necessarily ensue for studies in coastal environments, including estuaries, rivers, springs, and lakes.

Research

My research focus is in the general area of Coastal Physical Oceanography. My work has concentrated in understanding physical processes of the ocean between the shelf break and the upstream limit of tidal influence in estuaries and rivers. I combine three essential tools to carry out my research: field observations, theory and numerical model. The bulk of my research deals with observations, sometimes complemented by analytical models. Numerical model work has typically been process-oriented and geared toward understanding what we are unable to explain with the other two approaches.

Within semienclosed coastal bodies of water I study bathymetric effects on the dynamics of the system and on property exchange between these bodies and the adjacent oceans. I enjoy interdisciplinary opportunities to link these physical concepts with the transport and accumulation of dissolved and suspended matter. Together with colleagues in the Geological Sciences department, we have worked on studies of sediment resuspension in lakes, and in sediment transport associated with hydrodynamics around capes.

Another research topic that I cherishis the interaction between groundwater and coastal ocean waters. With colleagues from geological sciences and other departments, we are combining our expertise to study geochemical and biological implications of the interaction between aquifer and ocean waters. Because salty waters are already intruding into aquifers, we are also combining studies with social scientists. These studies are producing results, as part of two ongoing projects (Water Institute Graduate Fellows and NSF Coastal SEES), that could propose recommendations for mitigation and adaptation strategies for coastal communities under the imminent threat of sea-level rise.

Also with colleagues from Geological Sciences, and as a consequence of our research on groundwater-ocean water interactions, we are studying last-century sea-level rise. This research is producing promising results. Another recent topic that I am exploring with a colleague in my department, and that is also related to climate change and coastal sustainability, deals with tide-surge interactions in the continental shelf. Furthermore, we are investigating the generation, propagation and growth of meteotsunamis in the Gulf of Mexico. Our investigations would benefit enormously from the study of geomorphological consequences of tide-surge interactions through interactions with colleagues from Geological Sciences.

Teaching

I have taught lectures in Physical Oceanography as part of the Marine Sciences undergraduate class being organized by Geological Sciences. With a relocation, I could become more involved in the Marine Sciences class. I could also teach undergraduate courses on measurement techniques and data analysis. Moreover, I could organize undergraduate/graduate classes on data analysis, estuarine hydrodynamics and sediment transport (or contribute to the ongoing estuaries class), physical oceanography, and interdisciplinary studies in coastal environments.

With respect to graduate students, I currently supervise 5 PhD students and 2 MS students. I have graduated 14 PhD students (9 at UF) and 13 MS students with thesis (8 at UF). My PhD students have been financed by projects or by Fellowships from their own countries. I have also supervised 3 honors undergraduate theses and around 10 other undergraduate students in research experiences, plus 5 that I am currently supervising. A relocation will allow me to work more actively with undergraduate students.

My teaching philosophy is to implement hands-on activities and activities involving corporal motion in my courses. My philosophy and goals in teaching are centered in my view that the key to learning is doing it, instead of seeing it or hearing about it. In order to achieve my teaching goals, I involve students in field trips that require data collections and analyses illustrating aspects of course-related topics. Whenever possible, I add an international component to those field trips by carrying them out at sampling sites abroad. This has been very fulfilling and incredibly educational to all participants.

The idea of involving corporal motion in my courses arose from the realization that students forget concepts, regardless of the number of times those concepts are stressed and underscored in class. Once, I was explaining the notion of the basic circulation in estuaries. I was using my arms to illustrate surface outflow and the oppositely directed bottom inflow. A student mimicked with her arms what I was doing and said “it is like the estuarine shuffle.” “Yes,” she said. “To that motion of arms, you add a hip motion and you have the ‘estuarine shuffle’!” From then on I’ve been explaining the model of basic circulation as the ‘estuarine shuffle’ and I’ve come to realize that the concept stays in the students’ minds. I now try to add arm and leg motion to every possible concept such as standing wave vs. progressive wave, amphidromic points, geostrophic motion.

A variant that I’m currently pursuing is to ask students to write raps about the concepts covered in the previous class. As a review of those concepts, we begin every session with a rap or poem or song that students prepare. I’ve found out that this approach is, in addition to great fun, very rewarding for performer and for the audience.

I find teaching a very satisfying activity in my career. It is one of instant gratification and obvious closure with every lecture and every class. I try to provide a relaxed environment conducive to learning in which the student is a partner in learning and not a mere recipient of information. A relocation will allow me to share this philosophy with undergraduate students as my present target population is restricted to graduate students.