CCPO and ICAR
Fall 2026 Virtual Seminar Series
MONDAY, 28 September 2026
3:30 p.m.
The next CCPO and Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience (ICAR) seminar will be given by Professor Temitope Idowu from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Old Dominion University (flyer attached). Professor Idowu joined the ODU faculty in the 2025 Fall semester. His expertise encompasses many areas of coastal resilience. Professor Idowu’s seminar will show how these areas are combined to develop an integrated framework for tracing microplastic transport in the lower Chesapeake Bay.
Professor John Klinck will host Professor Idowu’s virtual seminar. There will be an informal discussion with Professor Idowu prior to the seminar starting at 3pm.
Please join via the seminar Zoom link above to talk with Professor Idowu and attend the seminar.
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Title: Fate and Spatial Prevalence of Microplastics in Coastal Sediments of the Lower Chesapeake Bay Region
Abstract
Microplastics (plastic particles <5 mm) are pervasive contaminants of marine environments that resist degradation and persist in sediments for long periods, where they become bioavailable to organisms, with consequences for both ecological and human health. The southern end of Chesapeake Bay is especially vulnerable, experiencing the highest rate of relative sea-level rise on the US East Coast alongside intense urbanization and recurrent coastal flooding. Although prior work has documented elevated microplastic contamination at select beaches in the region, the influence of local tidal current patterns and the spatial extent of pollution across the Lower Chesapeake Bay shorelines remains poorly understood. This seminar presents a study characterizing the abundance, composition, and spatial distribution of microplastics in coastal sediments across sites spanning contrasting current regimes with the aim of establishing source-to-sink transport patterns. The results will establish a spatial contamination baseline for the Lower Chesapeake Bay and inform future monitoring, and an integrated framework that couples hydrodynamic models with machine learning to trace microplastic transport.
Biography
Temitope Idowu, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Coastal Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University. He teaches, mentors, and conducts research on a wide range of topics related to coastal resilience, including coastal processes and pollution dynamics, nature-based solutions, GIS applications, and machine learning for environmental and coastal systems. He is an active member of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and several other professional organizations. Dr. Idowu holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and earned his PhD in Civil Engineering (Coastal Engineering specialization) from the University of Delaware.
Previous seminars are available on CCPO/ICAR Seminar YouTube Playlist