For Andrea Albright, studying the ways waves break is more than a practice in beachside relaxation. “There’s a lot of questions about which kinds of waves drive erosion versus moving sand back onto the beach,” says Albright, a graduate student in the Cullen College’s geosensing systems engineering and sciences program.
Albright’s research is providing answers to these questions. But it’s not only her research findings that are making waves – her ability to explain the significance of her work has earned her the distinction of grand prize winner of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2017 Data Visualization and Storytelling Contest.
As one of six total winners chosen across the U.S., Albright will receive a $2,500 travel stipend to attend the 2017 AGU meeting this December in New Orleans. At the meeting Albright will give a presentation on her research using NASA’s Hyperwall, a large video wall used to display multiple high-definition data visualizations and images.