Members of our research team study how fluids and particles shape the Earth’s surface, and the record those forces leave behind. To do this use a wide range of tools. By measuring changes on the Earth’s surface today, we quantify how forces sculpt the landscape. By studying sedimentary rocks and deposits, we learn about how the Earth’s surface changed in the past. We develop theory to explain our observations and make predictions. In the lab, we test our predictions using granular physics and hydraulics experiments. Our team comprises many areas of expertise, viewpoints, perspectives, and backgrounds.

If you are interested in joining our team, please take a look at the broad overview of our past and ongoing work and then take a look at currently available opportunities in the lab.

Current lab members

Minsik Kim

Postdoc – started 2025

PhD 2025 Yonsei University, South Korea
BSc 2020 Yonsei University, South Korea

Contact

minsik.kim@ucr.edu

Website

Publications

Kim, M., Chun, B., Chamberlain, E. and Kim, W. (2024). Enhanced mud retention as an autogenic mechanism for sustained delta growth: Insight from records of the Lafourche subdelta of the Mississippi River. Sedimentology. (DOI: 10.1111/sed.13230)
Nahm, W., Kim, W., Kim, M., Park, BS., Han, M., Kim, S., Lim, HS., Choi,, J., Jun, C. (2024). The potential of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) layers as Anthropocene strata. Episodes, 47, 179-186. (DOI:10.18814/epiiugs/2023/02333)
Wu, C., Kim, M., & Kim, W. (2023). Natural levees increase in prevalence in the backwater zone: Coastal Trinity River, Texas, USA: COMMENT. Geology, 51(6), e564-e564. (DOI: 10.1130/G51212C.1)
Kim, M., Shin, H., Nahm, W. H., & Kim, W. (2023). Dynamic Equilibrium Position Prediction Model for the Confluence Area of Nakdong River. Economic and Environmental Geology, 56(4), 435-445. (DOI: 10.9719/EEG.2023.56.4.435)
Kim, M., Kim, W., & Nahm, W-H. (2022). The effect of bottomset on fluviodeltaic land-building process: Numerical modelling and physical experiment. Basin Research, 34, 1763-780. (DOI: 10.1111/bre.12684)

Rana Rishmawi

PhD Student – started 2025

BS 2025 Macalaster College, Minnesota, USA

Contact

rrish004@ucr.edu

Md Raihanul Islam

PhD Student – started 2025

B.Sc. 2019 Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh

Publications

Islam, M. R., & Islam, A. Z. (2021). Plan form changes of the Ganges-Jamuna confluence and its relation to flood. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, Elsevier, Volume-22, 100525. DOI
Islam, M. R., Khan, I., Salim, M. A., & Musfequzzaman, M. (2024). Reconstruction of avulsion history of the Brahmaputra River: Rare example of a giant braided river course alteration through multi-channel multi-avulsion processes. Evolving Earth, Elsevier, 100034. DOI