KINGSTON, R.I. – August 1, 2008 — Stephan T. Grilli, distinguished professor of ocean engineering at the University of Rhode Island and an international expert on ocean wave dynamics and tsunamis, was presented with the C.H. Kim Award by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers at its annual conference on July 9 in Vancouver. The award was presented “in recognition of his outstanding technical achievements in and exceptional contribution to floating-body hydrodynamics.”

A resident of Narragansett, Grilli served as chair of the Society’s Numerical Wave Tank group and its Hydrodynamics Committee. Since 2001, he has served on the society’s Technical Program Committee and, since 2003, has been an associate editor of the quarterly International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering.

Grilli earned degrees in civil engineering, physical oceanography and applied sciences from the University of Liege in Belgium and joined the URI faculty in 1991, where he served as chair of the Department of Ocean Engineering from 2002 to 2008. He has been a visiting professor in Morocco, Spain, France and Germany, and an invited lecturer in China, Denmark and England. He teaches courses in marine hydrodynamics, wave mechanics, coastal modeling and wave-structure interaction.

He organized the first scientific research expedition to the epicenter of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary, Unstoppable Wave, the following year.

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