Len Waterworth

Len Waterworth focuses on new approaches in storm surge protection along the coastal spine of the Houston-Galveston region. More specifically, he coordinates Ike Dike hurricane surge protection research activities with numerous stakeholders around the world: faculty at Texas A&M at Galveston and with research partners at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university; the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston and the Homeland Center of Excellence at Jackson State University in Mississippi, as well as public outreach efforts with businesses, municipalities and non-governmental organizations in the Houston/Galveston region. The proposed Ike Dike is a $6-10 billion effort to build 55 miles of dune barriers and gates at the mouth of the Houston shipping channel to form a coastal spine that prevents or reduces damage caused by hurricanes every 15 years or so. He is an executive professor in the Department of Maritime Administration at Texas A&M at Galveston. After a long and successful career in the Army, Waterworth has had a similarly successful career in top administration in both governmental and private sectors with the Army Corps of Engineers, Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation and most recently as executive director at the Port of Houston Authority.