Scott C. Hagen, a leader among scientists and engineers studying rising sea levels and their impacts, along with modeling tidal flow and coastal

flooding from extreme weather events, will be inducted May 14 into the University of Iowa Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy,

The induction will occur during the College of Engineering undergraduate commencement ceremony at 10:30 a.m. at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, Coralville, IA.  Hagen also will deliver the "Charge to the Graduates" keynote commencement speech during the ceremony.

Hagen received a Bachelor's of Science degree with Honors in 1993 in civil engineering from the university.

The Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy was created in 1996 to honor University of Iowa engineering alumni for their personal contribution toward engineering achievement, leadership, and service to the profession and to society.  Hagen will be the 78th graduate to be inducted (https://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/alumni-friends/honor-wall/distinguished-engineering-alumni-academy-members).

As holder of the John P. Laborde Endowed Chair for Louisiana Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer at Louisiana State University (LSU), Hagen's primary research focus is on massively parallel, high performance computational modeling of ocean, coastal and inland shallow water flows. He is also the director of the Louisiana Board of Regents chartered LSU Center for Coastal Resiliency.

His recent efforts expand into transport and ecological modeling, particularly with respect to the coastal dynamics of sea level rise. Hagen's research has led to a shift in the paradigm of ‎how climate change in general and sea level rise in particular are assessed at the coastal land margin.  Hagen and his colleagues and their students conduct transdisciplinary research that helps government agencies issue more accurate emergency advisories during storms and understand complicated coastal hydrodynamics and related biological behaviors from historical, present-day, and future perspectives.

Hagen came to LSU from the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he was a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering for more than 17 years. He also served as director of the UCF Coastal Hydroscience Analysis, Modeling and Predictive Simulations Laboratory (CHAMPS Lab).  He has and continues to work on more precise models of tides, inflows, winds and other influences on the St. Johns River, Indian River Lagoon system, and other estuaries along coastal Florida. Hagen also led a research team to develop a hurricane storm tide models for the coastal flood plains of Alabama and Florida for use in FEMA flood mapping studies. He was a key contributor to a National Oceanographic Partnership Program to develop a real-time forecasting system for winds, waves and storm surge.

He is a licensed professional engineer (P.E.) in the state of Florida, a diplomate of coastal engineering (D.CE), a diplomate of water resources engineering (D.WRE), and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Hagen is a past member of the Board of Governors for
ASCE’s Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute, served as chair of the Coastal & Estuarine Hydroscience Committee, and is an advisory board
member for the University of Iowa, IIHR – Hydroscience and Engineering.