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Current Projects at CESN
Active Projects
CESN core / CESN CI
PI:  Richard F. Antonak
Scientific Lead:  Robert F. Chen
Project Manager:  Francesco Peri
Co-PIs:  Robert A. Morris,
Robert Stevenson, John Duff,
Meng Zhou


Project Lead/PI:
Benjamen Wetherill (UMB)
Co-PIs:  Robert F. Chen (UMB),
Julie Wood (CRWA),
Francesco Peri (UMB)


Project Lead/PI:
Benjamen Wetherill (UMB)
Co-PIs:  Robert F. Chen (UMB),
Yuting Zhang (BU),
Thomas Little (BU), Peter Rosen (NU),
Francesco Peri (UMB)


Boston Environmental Area Coastal Observation Network (BEACON)
Funded by the Department Of Energy
With 50% of the U.S. population living within 100 km of the coast, human populations significantly impacting coastal zones (e.g., eutrophication), and coastal environments significantly impacting human activities (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), there is a critical need for smart coastal environmental sensor networks to support planning, sustainable coastal development, effective coastal hazard warning and mitigation, and appropriate public use of coastal resources.  The Boston Environmental Area Coastal Observation Network (BEACON) research project is creating an integrated environmental sensor network testbed in Boston Harbor that includes novel sensor development (e.g., bacterial water quality, coastal inundation), optimized sensor networking (e.g., telemetry, power, bandwidth), predictive modeling (e.g., circulation, GIS), and cyber-infrastructure (e.g., data management, standards, visualization).  The sensor network testbed to be developed crosses steep gradients from urban to rural, land to ocean, and natural to developed environments.  Specific objectives for this research project include:  (a) developing “smart” sensor networks for observing complex interactions of coastal systems including “hotspots and hot moments,” in the Neponset River Watershed, Neponset Estuary, and Boston Harbor; (b) developing discrete and agent-based models to rapidly analyze and visualize complex and non-continuous datastreams; and (c) developing and test new environmental sensors and evaluating the potential to transfer the sensor network technology to commercial markets.
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