Skip to main content

Primary Navigation

  • About
    • President's Page
    • Board of Trustees
    • Administration
    • Strategic Plans
    • History & Facts
    • Accreditation
    • Accolades
    • The Clarkson Brand
    • Maps & Directions
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • Continuing & Professional Education
    • School of Arts & Sciences
    • Lewis School of Health Sciences
    • Reh School of Business
    • Coulter School of Engineering
    • Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries
    • Institute for a Sustainable Environment
    • Institute for STEM Education
    • Academic Affairs
    • Student Achievement Services
    • Academic Calendar
  • Admissions
    • First-Year Admissions, Undergraduate
    • Transfer Admissions, Undergraduate
    • International Admissions, Undergraduate
    • Early College Program: The Clarkson School
    • Graduate School Admissions
    • Financial Aid
    • Apply Now
  • Life
    • Office of Student Life
    • Student Clubs & Activities
    • Living on Campus
    • Campus Dining
    • Clarkson Ignite
    • Career & International Experiences
    • Explore the Region
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Student Health & Counseling
    • ROTC
  • Research
  • Athletics
  • News

Information for

  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Request Info
  • Give
  • Alumni
  • Parents
  • Intranet

CU • News & Events

Clarkson Professor’s Research Featured in Nature Scientific Reports

Release Date
Tuesday August 2, 2022
Abul Baki
Prof. Abul Baki

Abul Baki, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and Amir Golpira, a civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. candidate at Clarkson University and their co-authors recently published their research on the effects of boulder placement on hydraulic metrics of instream habitat complexity in the prestigious journal Nature Scientific Reports. Scientific Reports is the 5th most-cited journal in the world, with more than 696,000 citations in 2021, and receives widespread attention in policy documents and the media.

Numerous instream habitats throughout the world have been degraded due to factors such as sediment load changes, stream fragmentation (connectivity loss), and stream channelization (simplification). Restoring degraded streams by enhancing habitat complexity has been one of the primary objectives of river restoration projects in recent decades. 

baki nature

Boulder placement is a common method to restore degraded instream habitats by enhancing habitat complexity. This experimental study is the foremost attempt to systematically investigate the influence of rock-ramp boulder placement with varying boulder concentration and flow rate on habitat hydraulic complexity metrics. A set of relationships were proposed to predict the metrics in reaches with boulders, and it was found that boulder placement especially at higher concentrations may provide suitable habitats for several riverine fish species. 

“Our findings may benefit restoration projects that use the boulder placement technique to ecologically restore degraded streams and facilitate the application of habitat metrics, as a reliable measure of habitat complexity in future work. Further field and experimental studies are needed to establish a reliable linkage between the metrics and instream species and to test a wider variety of parameters. Currently, in the Ecohydraulics Lab at CU we are undertaking various experiments to better understand flow hydrodynamics and its subsequent effects on instream habitat in boulder-bed reaches,” Dr. Baki said. 

To learn more about the study, visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-17281-1 

As a private, national research university, Clarkson is a leader in technological education and sustainable economic development through teaching, scholarship, research and innovation. We ignite personal connections across academic fields and industries to create the entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge and intellectual curiosity needed to innovate world-relevant solutions and cultivate the leaders of tomorrow. With its main campus located in Potsdam, N.Y., and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region, Beacon, N.Y., and New York City, Clarkson educates 4,600+ students across 95 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, the arts, education, sciences and health professions. Our alumni earn salaries that are among the top 2.5% in the nation and realize accelerated career growth. One in five already leads as a CEO, senior executive or owner of a company. To learn more about Clarkson University, go to www.clarkson.edu.


Photograph for media use is available at:
/sites/default/files/media/image/2022-08/abul-baki.jpg

Photograph Size:
Width: 320px
Height: 425px

News directors and editors: For more information, contact Melissa Lindell, Director of Media Relations, at 315-268-6716 or mlindell@clarkson.edu.

Schools at Clarkson

  • Graduate School
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • David D. Reh School of Business
  • Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering
  • Earl R. and Barbara D. Lewis School of Health Sciences
  • Institute for a Sustainable Environment
  • Early College Program: The Clarkson School
  • Institute for STEM Education
  • Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries

Highlights of Excellence

  • Career Center
  • Honors Program
  • ROTC
  • SPEED
  • Student Success Center
  • Writing Center

Research & Innovation

  • Clarkson Center for Complex Systems Science (C3S2)
  • The Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP)
  • Center for Air and Aquatic Resources Engineering & Science (CAARES)
  • Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR)
  • The Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science & Technology (CREST)
  • NYS Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions
  • The Shipley Center for Innovation
  • Clarkson Ignite
  • University Libraries

Clarkson University

8 Clarkson Ave., Potsdam, New York 13699 315-268-6400
80 Nott Terrace, Schenectady, NY 12308 518-631-9831
199 Dennings Ave., Beacon, New York 12508 845-838-1600
Take a Virtual Tour

Organizational Chart
© 2022 by Clarkson University | Contact the Webmaster

  • Human Resources • Giving • Bookstore
  • CARES Act Reports & Consumer Information Disclosures (HEOA)
  • Act on Legal & Moral Concerns