Career Summary

Kourafalou has pioneered research in river plume dynamics and interaction of coastal and offshore flows. She has a strong record on advancing the numerical modeling of coastal and regional seas, with over 60 publications on related processes and methods, including coastal forecasting and observing system design. She holds a Physics degree from the University of Athens, Greece, her native town. She moved to the U.S. for her graduate work, earning M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami. She did postdoctoral work at Italy’s National Research Council and was a Research Scientist at Greece’s Hellenic Center for Marine Research. She moved back to Miami after several years in Europe and joined the faculty at the University of Miami in 2007. The international media has featured her work in several newspaper and magazine articles, radio and TV interviews.

Awards and Leadership Positions

Starting with a post-doctoral fellowship by the European Union, Kourafalou has benefited from international work recognition and diverse collaborations from early in her career. She has dedicated efforts in facilitating international partnerships in ocean prediction and the exchange of best practices and scientific methods, leading a dedicated Task Team since 2009. She also leads the Coastal and Shelf Modeling Lab at the University of Miami and co-directs a center dedicated to Ocean Modeling and Observing System evaluation and design, a University of Miami and NOAA partnership. She has chaired several international workshops and conference sessions.

Vassiliki H. Kourafalou

Research Professor

University of Miami

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