Prior to joining West Virginia University as a faculty member, Dr. Hong conducted a lot of experimental work and field work at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher. This is where he received his MSc and PhD degrees. Dr. Hong’s research expertise lies in environmental fluid mechanics, with an emphasis on the sediment-water interface in natural water courses and the hydrodynamic processes that occur, sediment suspension/transport and local bridge scour. Furthermore, he recently focused on using different materials to protect structures built in water courses from erosion. He has published over ten SCI-indexed and peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and is also active as a professional engineer in the USA.