Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty at the University of Delaware

Jack Puleo
Professor and Chair
301 DuPont Hall
Newark, Delaware 19716
Phone: 302-831-2442
Research Website
EDUCATION
2004 | Ph.D | University of Florida
1998 | Master | Oregon State University
1996 | Bachelor | Humboldt State University
SHORT BIO
Jack Puleo is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a core faculty member of the Center for Applied Coastal Research (CACR) at the University of Delaware (UD). He completed a B.S. from Humboldt State University and a M.S. from Oregon State University. He was employed as a Research Oceanographer for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the subsequent six years and completed the Ph.D. from the University of Florida during the latter half of that time frame. He joined the faculty at UD in 2004 and has served as Associate Chair and CACR director. He was a Fulbright Scholar and visiting Professor at Plymouth University in 2011-2012 and is presently an intermittent faculty member at NRL.
Puleo conducts research on small-scale hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes in coastal environments. His research involves designing sensor networks, developing new sensors, and conducting rapid-response deployments to quantify intra-storm processes. Outcomes of the research lead to improved parameterizations for sediment transport that could be incorporated into high resolution and engineering-level predictive models for coastal change. His work has also focused on remote sensing of the coastal environment, surf zone injuries, and more recently, object mobility on beaches.
Puleo is a member of the American Geophysical Union, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), and American Society of Engineering Education. He has received the NSF CAREER Award in 2007, teaching awards from ASCE, the College of Engineering, and the University of Delaware (twice), a Chi Epsilon advising award, a ASBPA Robert G. Dean Award, and a German DAAD Scholarship.
RESEARCH AREAS/SUSTAINABILITY
- Coastal and Ocean
- Disasters
- Sustainability
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Rutten, J., A. Torres-Freyermuth, and J.A. Puleo. 2021.Uncertainty in runup predictions on natural beaches with a phase-resolving model, Coastal Engineering, 166, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2021.103869.
- Innocenti, R.A., R. A. Feagin, B. R. Charbonneau, J. Figlus, M. Wengrove, P. Lomonaco, J. A. Puleo, T. P. Huff, Y. Rafati, T.-J Hsu, B. Tsai, T. Boutton, M. Pontiki, J. Smith, and M. V. Moragues. 2021. Effects of plant structure and fluid properties on the physical response of coastal dune plants to windand wave run-up, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 261, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107556.
- Pintado-Patiño, J.C., J.A. Puleo, D. Krafft, A. Torres-Freyermuth. 2021. Hydrodynamics and sediment transport
under a dam break-driven swash: An experimental study, Coastal Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2021.103986 - Heiss, J.W., H. A. Michael, and J.A. Puleo. 2020. Groundwater-surface water exchange in the intertidal zone detected by hydrologic and coastal oceanographic measurements, Hydrological Processes, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13825.
- Puleo, J.A., D. Cristaudo, A. Torres-Freyermuth and G. Masselink. 2020. The role of alongshore flows on inner
surf and swash zone hydrodynamics on a dissipative beach, Continental Shelf Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2020.104134 - Puleo, J.A. and P. Chardon-Maldonado. 2020. Bundlecuss: Cable entanglement lessons learned
from a nor’easter field deployment, Journal of Coastal Research, 101(sp1), 359-362. - Puleo, J.A. 2020. A design-based fluids mechanics laboratory, Global Journal of Engineering
Education, 22(1), 26-31. - Cristaudo, D. and J.A. Puleo. 2020. Observation of migration and burial of munitions in the swash zone, Ocean Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2020.107322.
- Roberts-Briggs, T., J. Figlus, A. Torres Freyermuth, J.A. Puleo, W. Warren and T. Alrushaid. 2020. Variability in onshore sediment transport on a natural beach during a Central American cold surge event, Journal of Coastal Research, 36(3), 487-497.
- Torres-Freyermuth, A., J.C. Pintado-Patino, A. Pedrozo-Acuna, J.A. Puleo and T.E. Baldock. 2019. Runup uncertainty on planar beaches, Ocean Dynamics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-019-01305-y
- *Borrell, S. and J.A. Puleo, 2019. In situ hydrodynamic and morphodynamics measurements during extreme events, Shore & Beach, 87(4), 23-30. http://doi.org/10.34237/1008743.
- Coogan, J.S., B.M. Webb, S. Smallegan, and J.A. Puleo. 2019. Geomorphic changes
measured on Dauphin Island, AL during Hurricane Nate, Shore & Beach, 87(4), 16-22. http://doi.org/10.34237/1008742. - Howe, D., C.E. Blenkinsopp, I.L. Turner, T.E. Baldock, and J.A. Puleo. 2019. Direct measurements of bed shear stress under swash flows on steep laboratory slopes at medium to prototype scales, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 7(10), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7100358.
- *Kim, Y., R.S. Mieras, Z. Cheng, D. T.–J. Hsu, J.A. Puleo, D. Cox. 2019. A numerical study of sheet flow driven by velocity and acceleration skewed near-breaking waves on a sandbar using SedWaveFoam, Coastal Engineering, 152, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2019.103526.