Tribute to Dr. Gregory Stone

By Angelina Freeman, Environmental Defense Fund

Dr. Greg Stone

Dr. Greg Stone, a highly valued professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University (LSU) and director of LSU’s Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), passed away on Thursday (Feb. 17) at the age of 53.  Dr. Stone was an internationally respected coastal scientist whose research interests included waves, coastal morphyodynamics, and numerical modeling of sediment transport.

“His interest in the oceanic processes that drive changes in coasts of different types made him a perfect fit for CSI and its 50 year history of similar research work,” wrote Dr. Harry Roberts, a friend and colleague of Dr. Stone.  “As part of his research he and the CSI Field Support Group developed a series of offshore instrumented stations to monitor wind, waves, and currents that impact the Louisiana coast.  These Wave-Current Information System (WAVCIS) stations produce data that may be accessed on the Internet and used by coastal scientists, industry, state agencies, sports fishermen, and others.  This program, a product of Dr. Stone’s vision, has received international recognition for its technical innovation and scientific value.”  Read more of Dr. Roberts’ tribute here.

Dr. Stone had high expectations for students and demanded first class work on the theses and dissertations they produced.  He was very supportive and generous, imparting his knowledge while mentoring students, and often encouraging students to think more broadly about research problems and place their results into a global context.  Dr. Stone’s passing is a great loss to the field of coastal morphodynamics and to the understanding of coastal change in Louisiana.  He will be sincerely missed.