Marine Sciences Professor Wins NSF Grant
Posted on September 22, 2026
Research Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences in the Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences Dr. Zhilong Liu has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant of $247,885 to develop physics-informed artificial intelligence methods for estuarine prediction and data assimilation.
“The fellowship will support research visits to North Carolina State, where a graduate student and I will spend three months each year over the two-year fellowship, conducting collaborative research on physics-informed artificial intelligence (AI) for coastal ocean modeling,” shared Dr. Liu.
The project will develop and validate physics-informed neural operator frameworks that emulate computationally intensive partial differential equation solvers for time-dependent advection–diffusion–reaction processes in complex coastal environments. By integrating a 50-year, high-resolution hydrographic hindcast with a decade of water-quality observations, the research will evaluate the reliability, physical consistency, and generalizability of these frameworks for representing coupled physical–biogeochemical processes across a broad range of environmental conditions.
The resulting approaches will improve computational efficiency while preserving physical fidelity and predictive accuracy, providing a foundation for next-generation coastal forecasting and environmental assessment. The fellowship also supports STEM workforce development by providing hands-on training in AI-enabled marine and environmental science and strengthens Alabama’s research capacity in advanced coastal ocean modeling.
“I’m truly grateful to be part of such a wonderful community and look forward to continuing to build on this momentum,” expressed Dr. Liu. “I greatly appreciate the continued support from the College, the Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, and my mentors, Dr. Lehrter and Dr. Dzwonkowski. Their support has been instrumental in advancing my research and creating new opportunities.”
