Enda Murphy
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
Enda Murphy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Enda (BE Civil Engineering – University College Cork 2004, MSc Civil & Environmental Engineering – Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2006, PhD Civil Engineering – University of Ottawa 2024) has almost two decades of applied research and consultancy experience involving application of numerical and physical modelling techniques to address coastal and estuarine management challenges, including hazard risk management, infrastructure planning and design, climate impacts and adaptation, and environmental impact assessment. His research and teaching interests are towards an improved understanding and more sustainable management of coastal hazard risk through transdisciplinary, whole system approaches and innovative nature-based solutions. More information on Enda’s research and publications is available on his ResearchGate and Google Scholar pages. In his spare time, he likes to bike, run, camp, and hike.
Jeremy Karkanis
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Jeremy is a MASc student in UBC’s Civil Engineering department, specializing in coastal systems and hydrotechnical engineering. His research is specifically centered around the development of computational models for coastal hydrodynamic systems. Jeremy graduated with a BASc in Civil Engineering from UBC and has professional experience working in engineering consulting and as a regulator in the Yukon Territory. Outside of his professional life, Jeremy enjoys running, cycling, animating cartoons, and cooking.
Tyler De Jong
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Tyler is a MASc student in UBC’s Civil Engineering (Hydrotechnical specialization) with a keen interest in river and coastal systems. His research focuses on the development and application of reduced physics models to predict compound flood events in the Fraser Estuary. With almost 3 years of experience as a Junior Engineer at Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, he has contributed to projects related to water quality, hydrologic and hydrodynamic modeling, hydrometric monitoring as well as software development and data engineering. Outside of work, Tyler enjoys spending as much time as possible on the water, whether that’s sailing, freediving, or spearfishing.
Maya Giss
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Maya is a first year graduate student. Her research focuses on dynamic revetments or cobble beaches as a nature-based solution to coastal erosion. She is working with community partners to analyze newly-installed dynamic revetments and increase community-based observation efforts. In addition, she is working on fine-tuning a beach morphology model to more accurately depict the long-term impacts revetments will have on beach environments. Outside of the academic space, Maya can be found cruising down a mountain on a snowboard or bike, surfing, reading, or playing guitar!
Brielle Biehn
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Brielle is a MASc student in Civil Engineering, specializing in environmental fluid mechanics. Brielle has a background education in marine and coastal science which she received from Western Washington University. She has special interest in mitigating coastal hazards through understanding flow nearshore. Her research focuses on applying wave, hydrodynamic, and particle-tracking models to explore storm-driven driftwood mobilization and transport along Vancouver’s beaches and coastline, specifically within Burrard Inlet. Brielle enjoys being outside, painting, and cooking.
Noa Randall
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Noa is a MASc Civil Engineering student, specializing in coastal sediment transport in the Fraser River estuary. Prior to joining the lab, Noa worked as a technician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole on a variety of estuarine circulation and coastal sediment transport projects, and for The Emerald Tutu: a grant-funded research group working to design and implement low-tech, biomass-based coastal protection and restoration infrastructure in Boston, USA, using a community-based, “Do-It-Together,” approach. When she is not hopping across coastal mudflats, you can find Noa kneeling in the mud on a nearby farms, or ripping down (or more often, up) muddy trails on her trusty, steel gravel bike. Noa is an estuary enthusiast, a lover of salty water, an avid question-asker, and ranks kale as her favorite field snack.
Isaac Guld
MASc student, Civil Engineering
Isaac is a hydrotechnical engineer with 6 years of experience in design, construction and rehabilitation of hydrotechnical structures in the engineering consulting industry. He has worked in Canada, USA, Dominican Republic and Nepal, on a wide range of mining, and civil infrastructure projects involving channel designs, seepage recovery, water balances, flood inundation modeling, construction, and water quality assessments. Isaac’s technical skills are focused on design to construction of hydrotechnical structures, leveraging numerical modeling, mathematical and engineering analysis, flood mapping, and risk assessments. Isaac excels in multidisciplinary teams as a project or technical lead, bringing experience, context, and collaboration to the project team, and provides the important connection between process and the technical aspects of a project. He has recently returned to UBC as a MASc student studying the mobilization and transport of woody debris.
Alumni
Aerls De La Rosa Toro Rivera
BASc student, Civil Engineering
Aerls joined the team in Summer 2025 as a 4th year undergraduate student in Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Aerls’ research involved maintaining an array of pressure sensors to measure waves at the site of the Living Dike pilot project in Boundary Bay, which will be used to assess the joint occurrence of waves and high water levels, assess wave attenuation by different features, and provide insight to how the Living Dike will reduce wave overtopping hazards.
Joel Chin
BASc student, Civil Engineering
Joel joined the team in Summer 2025 as a 4th year undergraduate student in Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. His research focused on the georectification of historical aerial photographs to assess long-term changes to Sturgeon Bank in Richmond, BC. His project combined field surveys, GIS, and automated image processing to better understand sediment dynamics in the Fraser River Delta. Outside of academics, Joel enjoys cycling, rock climbing, and being let down by the Canucks.
Shan Huang
BASc student, Civil Engineering
Shan joined the team in Summer 2025 as an undergraduate student in UBC’s Civil Engineering department with an interest in the intersection of civil infrastructure and environmental systems. She contributed to data analysis in the Squamish Estuary, which was aimed at understanding how river flows, tides and weather events combine to affect hydrodynamic conditions. Outside of academics, Shan enjoys learning about history and exploring the natural world.
Prospective Students
Prospective undergraduate, MASc and PhD student candidates should check out positions advertised on the Opportunities page.