From the Dean

Welcome to Integrated Coastal Programs, where we pride ourselves in crossing disciplinary boundaries to better understand the changes, interactions, and dynamics of coastal systems. Our mission is to foster and facilitate interdisciplinary scientific exploration, discovery, and education across coastal and marine systems. We use a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating engineering and the physical, natural, health, and social sciences, to help bring researchers and students together to focus on sustainable use of coastal resources. Ultimately, we hope to leverage the knowledge of ECU faculty to advise, providing solution-oriented guidance, to those communities and economies dependent on the land-sea interface.

Our Program spans multiple ECU campuses, including the Outer Banks Campus located on Roanoke Island. This coastal campus provides us a unique opportunity to immerse our students in the environment that they are studying. Classes don’t seem like as much work when you are surrounded by water, wetlands, and the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks, NC!

We live in a time of dramatic and rapid change…whether it is climate, population or the location of the shoreline…we all recognize that our coastal systems are changing. We can provide you a window, a front row seat, a ticket to participate in the research and educational opportunities to increase our understanding of that change and develop the conservation practices and governance needed for a more sustainable and resilient future.