This past June, I spoke with Dr. Avantika Gori, an assistant professor and graduate research advisor, at Rice University. Her research specializes in understanding and quantifying the risk of coastal floods considering the ever-changing climate and landscape. Our conversation mainly focused on her work in water channels located near Houston and the future of technology and its role in coastal/environmental engineering. However, it's crucial to recognize the motivation behind why individuals like Dr. Gori dedicate themselves to this subfield of civil engineering.
Where did Dr. Gori find her Passion for Environmental Engineering?
Two words: Climate and Community
These two might seem disjoint, but after understanding the role of civil engineering in both local communities concerning the environment, it becomes obvious that the two are much more intertwined than what it initially seems. Dr. Gori and I discuss this later on, but for now, I'll return to why she initially chose to pursue this field.
Throughout high school, Dr. Gori had always found climate change, as a challenge of our generation, interesting. “I was always interested in climate change, even as a high schooler, and I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to do something impactful,” she shared. As stated, her initial spark came from her yearning to combat climate change. Once realizing this, she took time to explore the different fields in which she could make the most impact.
However, it wasn't until she attended Rice University that civil and environmental engineering became her focus. Civil engineering is invaluable in the fight against the climate crisis because it directly contributes to designing infrastructure that helps communities adapt to climate change. From flood management to sustainable development, civil engineers play a critical role in mitigating environmental risks and building resilience. Dr. Gori saw civil engineering as a way to make a tangible impact on both people and the planet.
“Once I got to Rice, I realized civil and environmental engineering is one of the main disciplines where we can push forward our ability to adapt to climate change, reduce CO2 emissions, and prepare for the changes that are already coming,” she explained.
Houston's Geography: A Catalyst for Her Research
Rice University not only played a role in her decision to pursue civil engineering but also deeply connected to the challenges that shaped her research focus. Its location in Houston, a city prone to flooding and hurricanes, provided Dr. Gori with firsthand experience of the environmental issues that civil engineers are tasked with addressing. She recalls that because Houston was a very flood-prone city, she "became very interested in the topic because of how frequently it disrupted the city," With Katy, TX being less than a 30-minute drive from Houston, it became clear to Dr. Gori that her local community and surrounding area are affected by flooding due to both climate change and lack of adequate infrastructure.
(Map of Flood-prone Areas Throughout Houston)
With this, the geography of Houston and its respective problems with natural disasters became a driving force for her career. She further researched hurricane physics and the structural impact of storms
“We’re also very vulnerable to hurricanes in this area. I became fascinated with wanting to better understand how we can predict hurricanes and prepare for them,” she explained. “Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was a very important experience for me. It showed me firsthand the damage these storms can cause.”
As seen above, the damage she saw firsthand done to her local community impacted her. Her main research focus reflects this, in which she focuses on protecting communities from the impacts of natural disasters, mainly hurricanes, and flooding.
Dr. Gori's Perspective on the Scope of Civil Engineering
We've already established that civil engineering has countless subfields, each with specializations of its own. Therefore, people in this field each have their own ways of defining it. I asked if she were to explain civil engineering to somebody who had never heard of the field, and her answer was very fitting for the subfield in which she is pursuing environmental engineering. She starts by saying, “If you ask someone who doesn’t know much about civil engineering, they’ll probably think of something like building a bridge. And that’s true, but there’s much more to it,” In Dr. Gori's work, the focus point most often relates to the environmental aspects of civil engineering, particularly regarding water systems, flood risk, and urban resilience. "For example, what I do is also civil engineering—trying to predict the impacts of climate change,” she explained. She expanded on this by stating that her work also involves predicting the impacts of climate change while other civil engineers develop the technology needed to store CO2 in the ground, reducing carbon emissions.I find this statement informative because she showcases her passion for civil engineering and touches on the fact that the field can, will, and has played a necessary role in climate change.
Dr. Gori also noted that civil engineering may not appeal to many because it is hard to encapsulate the entire field in a single description. She expands on this by explaining that the scope ranges from public infrastructure projects to disaster resilience, environmental sustainability, and much more. Later in the discussion, she left me with a quote that had stuck out to me as it described my sentiment towards the field without ever being able to articulate it.
“civil engineering is about improving any infrastructure for the public good, whether it’s roads, bridges, buildings, water systems, flood mitigation—anything related to making life better for society,” she summarized.
Channelized vs. Unchannelized Rivers: A Research Focus
One of the major areas of Dr. Gori’s research focuses on the comparison of channelized and unchannelized rivers in urban environments. Channelization refers to the modification of a river’s natural flow to control flooding, often through the construction of concrete channels. In essence, infrastructure is put in place to change how a river flows, which is usually done to mitigate flooding. Unchannelized rivers are simply rivers that are left in their natural state. While channelizing rivers can reduce flooding in the short term, Dr. Gori’s research has shown that it can create long-term problems, particularly in highly urbanized areas.
The research publication that we focused on compared two similar rivers, except for one being channelized, running through Houston. The name of these rivers is Buffalo Bayou(unchannelized) and Brays Bayou(channelized). The Brays Bayou was initially channelized in the 1960s to mitigate the amount of flooding that could be witnessed numerous times in the decade before. Although this decreased the number of severe floodings per decade, it also came with its own challenges: a constant need for maintenance on the new infrastructure, a false sense of security for the surrounding community, and many more.
“In the short term, channelization reduces flooding, but the problem is that people keep building and developing, converting natural land into concrete, which increases water flow into the rivers. So over time, channelizing actually makes things worse,” Dr. Gori explained.
(Buffalo Bayou running through a park just outside of the city)
The general idea for channeling rivers running through cities was to manage floodwaters (water overflowing from the river). However, as urban development has expanded, natural land has been replaced by impervious surfaces like roads and buildings, increasing water flow into these rivers and exacerbating flood risks. We speak about this later, but to summarize, as this new infrastructure was being built around these rivers, less surrounding land could absorb rainwater into the ground. Because of this, more water runs directly into the river, further increasing the probability of the river flooding.
Her research suggests that unchannelized rivers, which maintain the original flow path, perform better in managing long-term flood risks. However, as this specific publication solely compared rivers, I wanted to know if this idea could be applied to other scenarios when comparing channelized and unchannelized rivers. She explained that it is generalizable in the sense that the same patterns can be observed in other urban places. Still, the specific data points and effects of channelization depend on the location. Building off of this, she also explains that her research is not a standalone testament to the advantage of unchannelized rivers, but rather a piece in a big puzzle of evidence backing up such claims.
After discussing the intricacies of channeling rivers and the factors that lead to long-term problems, I became curious about potential solutions. Specifically, I wondered how we could keep a river in its natural state while also accounting for growing infrastructure that may worsen floodwater levels. I asked about what policymakers should do concerning unchannelized rivers and urbanization.
While, of course, not much can be done about existing infrastructure close to these rivers, in areas that are not already developed, certain policies can be put in place to mitigate the effects of urbanization. An example she gave was: "In the suburbs of Houston, there are some other rivers that have not been completely urbanized. And there, I think a good policy is to say, 'from the riverbank until this point on either side has to stay natural. You cannot build anything here,'" In simpler terms, regulations can be put in place to limit/stop buildings from being constructed adjacent to rivers. These protected areas would be called setbacks. At the end of the day, however, it is more up to the county to decide which areas will have commercial or residential structures versus places that will remain natural/protected.
The Sociological Impact of Civil Engineering
While doing research on the Houston area and its flooding problems, I came across the same idea many times, which is that many attribute the issue to urban sprawl and the lack of preventative measures. When prompted to explain why urban sprawl increases the severity of the problem, she explained that as people continue to build larger homes/infrastructure, the land is being converted from natural land that originally stored floodwater into concrete. "Instead, water is being funneled into the rivers, which then exceed their capacity more often," Earlier, she proposed that cities limit the amount of land being converted to concrete, but another solution she suggested was to rethink how cities are developed in the first place. She stated that instead of expanding cities outward "with sprawling homes, cities could focus on building upward" hinting at the increase in the use of high-rise buildings. The only problem with this is that it would be difficult to convince people who are used to single-family to move into apartments or more compact spaces.
Understanding how urban sprawl impacts flooding made me realize that her work goes beyond engineering—it’s about the people who can either benefit from or be harmed by those decisions. One of these questions was about the various equity issues related to flood mitigation infrastructure in cities. She put it simply that higher-income neighbors tend to have more flood-resistant infrastructure. She also explains that "if you use a simple cost-benefit analysis, then in areas where the home prices are higher, the monetary benefit tends to be higher because you're protecting homes that are higher value," To clarify, although she is explaining that the reason these higher end neighborhoods get more protection, she does not necessarily agree with how it is structured. She explains that "we're not allocating flood benefits equally among the urban population" and that we should revisit how the allocation is done.
How Sociology and The Channelized Vs Unchannelized Rivers Debate Relate
Rivers flowing through urban areas are as much a sociological challenge as they are an engineering one. This is because these waterways can affect many peoples' everyday lives. To many, the idea of a channelized river being controlled by a human force would give the people at risk more comfort. This is why it may be hard to convince landowners to accept an unchannelized approach to the river.
(Image of toppled bridge in the Houston Area after Hurricane Harvey)
Because of this, I asked, "What happens if a major hurricane hits an unchannelized river, causing severe flooding, and people begin blaming the disaster on the fact that the river wasn’t channelized?" She explained that it was a difficult question because even if there are extreme cases, such as Hurricane Harvey, people may not consider that the natural river handled the flooding better, but fixate on the fact that there was a flood at all.
She stated, "It's hard to explain to someone that you're reducing the probability of something happening because all they observe is either it happened or it didn’t happen, right?"
The Future of Civil Engineering
As the climate crisis continues to intensify, civil engineering will play an increasingly important role in designing solutions that protect communities from environmental risks. Dr. Gori is optimistic about the future of the field, particularly with the integration of AI and machine learning into civil engineering practices.
“AI and machine learning have huge potential, especially for predicting floods and helping with urban planning,” she explained. These technologies can process large datasets and help engineers make more informed decisions about infrastructure design and flood mitigation. Dr. Gori highlighted how AI could revolutionize civil engineering, not only in planning but also in creating smart cities that use sensors and advanced algorithms to manage infrastructure more efficiently.
When asked how she sees the field of civil engineering growing in the coming years, Dr. Gori emphasized its connection to climate adaptation and mitigation. “I see civil engineering growing in a few areas, especially in understanding the science behind extreme storms and their increasing frequency and severity as the climate warms. This will require engineers to develop actual solutions like flood mitigation, carbon capture, and improved building efficiency to reduce our CO2 footprint,” she said.
Her current projects are focused on finding ways to quantify the benefits of natural flood mitigation systems, such as wetlands and forests, compared to traditional engineered systems like dams and levees. “We’re looking into coastal flooding as well, especially with rising sea levels and more frequent storm surges,” she added.
Looking ahead, Dr. Gori is particularly excited about how AI-generated weather models can help predict coastal risks with more speed and precision. “We’re doing a lot of work on benchmarking AI weather prediction models, like those created by big tech companies, to ensure they are accurate and physically reliable,” she explained. By leveraging AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data quickly, her research could help civil engineers predict climate risks with much greater accuracy, helping them design more resilient infrastructure.
When discussing her future projects, Dr. Gori mentioned that her team is working on validating these models against real-world data. “If AI can generate reliable predictions, we can use it to better predict risks at the coast, especially in climate-sensitive areas,” she said. These innovations could help engineers move away from expensive and time-consuming traditional models and focus on faster, data-driven approaches to disaster preparedness.
Dr. Gori’s work is helping to shape the future of urban infrastructure in a way that balances environmental sustainability with community resilience. As civil engineering continues to evolve, her contributions to AI, flood mitigation, and sustainable urban development could pave the way for smarter, more resilient cities.
Closing Thoughts
At the end of our conversation, Dr. Gori reflected on her role as both a researcher and a teacher. When prompted about why she felt that this would be the career that fit her best, she responded, “I view my role as getting students interested in this topic. It’s rewarding to see them get excited about solving real-world problems,”
Through her research and teaching, Dr. Gori is helping to shape the future of civil engineering, ensuring that the next generation is prepared to tackle the complex challenges of climate change, urbanization, and environmental sustainability.
Thank you very much for reading my article on Dr. Avantika Gori and her work in Civil Engineering! See you again soon!
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