LSU Alumni at the CPRA: From Purple and Gold to Engineering a More Vibrant Louisiana

New Colors, Same Stripes

Charged with Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) puts its hands into the water, sand, mud, and dirt between New Orleans and Lake Charles—and beyond—on a daily basis. Its goal is to protect the lives and livelihoods of more than 2 million people in Louisiana, whether it’s through marsh creation, barrier island restoration, sediment diversions, or other large-scale projects to prevent the state from slowly slipping into the sea.
 
Established in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 to help protect one of our nation’s most important economic engines—coastal Louisiana—the CPRA works to meet many grand challenges. But as it helps the state, it also leads the world. Just as Louisiana needs solutions to land loss and rising seas today, coastal communities around the world will face similar problems tomorrow.

Many on the roughly 200-strong team that makes up the CPRA are scientists and engineers, and an astonishing amount of them are LSU graduates.

“LSU was where I learned about the magnitude, causes, and far-reaching consequences of Louisiana’s coastal land loss,” said Bevin Barringer, civil engineer at the CPRA. “During my graduate studies, I came to appreciate the importance and uniqueness of south Louisiana and decided to pursue a career working to preserve our coast.”

“The courses I took as an undergrad and graduate student at LSU in geotechnical, coastal, and structural engineering and hydraulics have been instrumental in the design of coastal protection and restoration projects.”

Bevin Barringer, CPRA engineer