Ian Walker

Ian Walker is a physical geographer and geomorphologist with expertise in sediment transport and erosion processes, aeolian and coastal geomorphology, environmental fluid dynamics, sand dunes, beach-dune interaction, dune ecosystem restoration, and climatic variability and change impacts and adaptation in the coastal zone. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto in Geography and Environmental Science and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Guelph, Canada. Dr. Walker joined UCSB in 2020 and previously held faculty positions at Arizona State University and the University of Victoria, Canada. To date, he has authored over 95 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters and has given over 100 conference presentations, public talks, and media interviews. He has secured over $6M to support his research and student training programs, which often involve collaborative partnerships with local, NGO, state, and federal agencies. Professor Walker has served on the editorial boards for various scientific journals including: Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, and the Journal of Coastal Research. He is also member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Scientific Advisory Panel for off-lake sources of airborne dust in Owens Valley, California. Dr. Walker teaches courses on introductory physical geography, geomorphology, close range remote sensing, and research development and has directly advised over 40 undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doc scholars to date.

Professor Walker’s research examines sedimentary processes, landforms, and natural hazards in coastal and desert environments using a variety of field- and lab-based methods to study sediment transport and flow dynamics over complex terrain, coastal erosion and beach-dune recovery, restoration of coastal dunes, sea-level changes (past and present) and resulting coastal landscape evolution, climate change impacts and adaptation, and mitigation of dust emissions to improve regional air quality. Methods used include spatial-temporal change detection using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), field experiments of sediment transport and beach-dune morphodynamics, and sedimentological investigations of relict landscapes and archaeological sites. He also conducts research on the interactions between fluid turbulence, sediment transport, and bedform morphodynamics using wind tunnel simulations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and particle imaging velocimetry (PIV). Dr. Walker's research has explored sedimentary landscapes around the world and current projects include a study at the Oceano Dunes involving development of a new foredune ecosystem as a dust emissions mitigation strategy in collaboration with the California Department of Parks & Recreation and a project with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in Humboldt Bay that examines the effectiveness of invasive plant removal for restoring coastal dune resilience to coastal erosion and sea-level rise.