Sam Bentley is a professor in the LSU Department of Geology and Geophysics. He holds the Harrison Chair in Sedimentary Geology, and is a fellow in LSU Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), LSU’s largest and oldest interdisciplinary science research unit. Most recently he was appointed Vice President for Research and Economic Development at LSU. He earned his PhD in coastal oceanography from SUNY Stony Brook in 1998, and has held faculty positions at LSU and Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), where he held the position of Canada Research Chair in Seabed Processes. He has been studying muddy coastal/deltaic/continental margin sediment dynamics since 1985, and the Mississippi River Delta since 1998. His research focuses on use of radionuclide geochronology and core analysis to better understand sediment dispersal patterns and seabed morphodynamics.