Dr. Deborah Villarroel-Lamb
Lecturer
The Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (Coastal Engineering and Management)
St. Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago
Telephone:
868-662-2002
Ext: 83448
Dr Villarroel-Lamb’s current research is focused on the numerical modelling of coastal processes that are linked to coastal morphology. As part of her research she has developed a numerical framework to model physical processes that occur along a coastline, such as wave transformation, wave breaking, undertow currents, energy dissipation and sediment transport. The numerical framework, based on an energetics formulation, is at the moment being extended to model anthropogenic activities, such as sand-mining and coastal structure interaction. Ultimately, the aim of this computational tool is to be used in coastal erosion hazard risk assessment on beaches. Further application of the model includes the description of the flooding hazard that may or may not be associated with the coastal erosion.
Dr Villarroel-Lamb is a proud recipient of the prestigious Royal Society – Newton Fellowship award in its inaugural year (2009). This fellowship is aimed at researchers at the beginning of their career with the potential to become world-class. Her fellowship was taken up at University College London (UCL), where she has been inducted as an Honorary Lecturer (2011-2016). She continues to work with Prof Richard Simons at UCL and has used her Newton Fellowship funding to facilitate exchange programs for PhD students between UWI and UCL. Dr Villarroel-Lamb is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (FRSA).
Qualification
- PhD, Civil Engineering 2007 - The University of the West Indies (Awarded with High Commendation)
- BSc, Civil Engineering 2000 - The University of The West Indies (First Class Honours)
- Mechanical Engineering Technician (MET) Diploma 1995 - John Donaldson Technical Institute (Awarded President's Medal)
Fellowships and Training
- Workshop completed on An Introduction to MEDIN Discovery Metadata and Data Guidelines at National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton, UK
- MIKE 2 | Coastal Flooding Analysis and Management - Intermediate to Expert Level; Hands on Training at a Worshop
- Trained First Aider; First Aid and CPR Training
- MIKE 2 | HD, SW and LITPACK - Hands-on training at Workshop
- MIKE 2 | Fine Sediment Transport - Hands-on training at Workshop
- MIKE 2 | Oil Spill Modelling - Hands-on training
- SANDS package - Hands-on training at Worshop
- Workshop completed in student Centred Research Supervision at Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- MIKE 2 | Spectral Wave Modelling - Hands-on training
- Health and Safety Training conducted by the Occupational Health, Safety and Environment Unit, UWI
Research Interests
- Ascertain the spatial and temporal variations within the beach under the action of variou wave conditions and within different types of beds.
- Ascertain beach responses due to variations in static water level changes.
- Review, calibrate and validate the Discrete Particle Model to assess the behavior of non-cohesive sediments under the action of a wave, predict the runup magnitude and to simulate the water level changes in the bed.
- Generate a statistal-base parametric model usingmeasured and modelled data for storm-related water level changes and storm-related beach erosion.
- Generate a statistically-based parametric model using field data ffor non-extreme water level variations.
Professional Experience
- Honary Research Associate, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London (UCL) - London United Kingdom
- Honorary Lecturer, Department of Civil , Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London (UCL) - London, United Kingdom
- Invited Reviewer for ICE jorunals in Coastal , Environmental and other related fields
- Invited reviewer for Journal of Coastal Research
- Invited Reviewer for Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology
- Invited Reviewer Latin American Applied Research Journal
- Invited Reviewer West Inidan Journal of Engineering
- Collaborator with one PhD studen at UCL and one PhD student at Birkbeck College
- Conducted Swash zone experiments using UCL Wave Flume in September 2009; additional experiments in July/August 2010; continued experiments in June 2013, January 2014, April 2015
- Mmember of the organizing committee of the firs Latin American and Caribbean Congress of Theoreticaland Applied Mechanics (LACCOTAM) held at the Inistitute of Critical Thinking, UWI, Trinidad and Tobago
Honours and Awards
- Honoury Research Associate in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at UCL, London
- Newton International Research Fellowship. Awarded by the Ryal Academy of Engineering (London) to overseas researchers to participate in research at a UK based institution.
- COPEDEC Fellowship 2008.
- Most Outstanding PhD Thesis Award 2007. (University of the West Indies)
- Commonwealth Split Site Scholarshop (2002) (Imperial College London)
- Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago Prize (2000) : Student with best Civil Engineering Design Project
- Samuel Naranjit Memorial Prize (2000) : Student with highest aggregate mark in Water Resources Group over the 3-yr period
- Desmond Imbert Prize (2000): Best Student in Civil Engineering
- David Key Prize (2000): Best Student in Civil Engineering
- B.G. Singh Prize (2000) : Student with highest Design Coursework Mark over the 3-yr period
Appointments
- Member of the Sub-Committee of Graduate Studies in the Engineering Faculty (2011-2014)
- Member of the Faculty Outreach Committee (2013-2014)
- Member Faculty Staff Review Committee (2013-2014)
- Assisted in the supervision of Mechanical Engineering students for academicyears 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 in the design of a wave tank, floating break water and wave energy device.
Courses Taught
- MSc Course : Coastal Processes and Hazards (CZEM6100) (Current)
- MSc Course :Coastal Zone Modelling (CZEM6 112) (Current)
- Undergraduate Course : Coastal Engineering ( CVNG3013) (Current)
- MSc Course: Design of Coastal Structures (CZEM6 106) (Current)
- MSc Course: Coastal Defense and Control Systems (CZEM6103)
- MSc Course: Natural Hazards Management (COEM6016)
Graduate Students
- Supervisor of Mrs. Charmaine O'Brien-Delpesh for PhD in Civil Engineering for Hydrodynamics of a Headland Bay Beach - influence on beach and nearshore morphology.
- Supervisor of Mr. Anton Ali for PhD in Civil Engineering for Development of a Discrete Particle Model to be applied in the Swash Zone
- Supervisor of Ms. Shani Brathwaite for MPhil in Civil Enginering for The impact ofbeach face properties on wave runup in the swash zone usuingvarious data acquisition techniques.
- Supervisor of Mrs. Candice Gray-Bernard for MPhil in Civil Engineering for Development of a Shoreline Management tool for Trinidad
- Supervisor of Ms. Chitralekha Deopersad for MSc in Coastal Engineering and Mnagement for Investigating thePlanform Stability of Crenulate Bays in the North Coast Trinidad
- Supervisor of Ms. Marisha for MSc in Coastal Engineering and Management for Cocos Bay Conundrum.
- Supervisor of Ms.Asalma Abdulla-Muhammad for MSc in Coastal Engineering and Management for a vulnarability Assessment of Trinidad's Atlantic Coastline Using Coastal Vulnerabilty Indices
- Supervisor of Mr.Clifford Garcia for MSc. in Coastal Engineering and managment for A storm Surge Assessment for vulnerable coastal site in Belize
- Supervisor of Ms. Shana Thomas for MSc in Coastal Engineering in Managament for A Numerical Approach to map Storm Surges Along Barbados' Coastline
- Supervisor of Mr. Amrit Arjoonsingh for MSc in Coastal Engineering and Management for the effects of creating artificial headlands along the East Coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
Grants
- Received TT$64,892.80 from Campus Research and Publication Fund, CRP.3.MAR 15.20, Project title: Temporal and Spatial mapping of nearshore currents along the eastern coast of Trinidad for inclusion in hazard assessment.
- Received TT$400,000.00 from UWI-Trinidad and Tobago Research and Development Impact Fund, Project title: An assessment of the Beach Erosion and Coastal flooding hazards along the East Coast of Trinidad.
- Received TT$785,815.00 from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs in August 2015 to complete the construction of the wave and installation of wave generator in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
- Named investigator for the $3Million Euro CARIB-COAST project through the partnering of The University of The West Indies with Bureau of Geological and Mining Research in France who is the Project Lead.
- Principal Investigator on Engineering the Design of Nature-Based Solutions for Sustainable Development (NBS-ENGROSSED) project. The USD300,000 is to be executed over 24 months and started on 1st May 2023.
- UWI Project partner on Leveraging Ecosystem-Based Adaptation and Digital Sensing Technologies to Enhance Climate Resilience and Empower Coastal Communities in Jamaica (CLIMATESCAN) project. This 400,000 Euro project is funded by Irish Aid.
- UWI Project partner on Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve coastal resilience in data-sparse locations: Caribbean region case study (AI4Coasts) project. This 150,000 Euro project is funded by Irish Aid through the Our Shared Ocean Programme.
