On:
In: 50th anniversary, Coastal Engineering, Gene Clark

As Sea Grant celebrates its 50th year, it’s catching up with former employees to capture memories and add to the year of commemoration.

Gene Clark knew from a young age that he would work as a chemist in a lab. He loved chemistry class, experiments and even failed experiments. He said, “I just loved testing things out. When they didn’t work, why didn’t they work?”

Then he attended a high school career talk discouraging pure chemistry in favor of chemical engineering. The speaker focused more on the downsides of chemistry than the positive aspects of chemical engineering, leaving Clark disheartened and confused — and questioning his career choice.

Group of people sitting at tables.

Gene Clark at an event in 2019. Photo: Bonnie Willison

Fortunately, his advisor was able to explain how a chemical engineering degree uses science-based processes and test results to solve real-world problems, and requires plenty of those chemistry classes Clark enjoyed. He realized, “No one had ever told me about what a career in the engineering field was or could do.”

Newly informed and encouraged, Clark decided to pursue chemical engineering. The result was a 35-year-long award-winning career that contributed to solving many engineering issues, benefitting diverse groups such as homeowners, kayakers, the Great Lakes shipping industry and marina operators. For some career highlights, see “A Career Solving Wicked, Sticky and Humongous Coastal Engineering Problems.”

Learning the trade

Clark began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s chemical engineering program and stayed for two and a half years. In his junior year, he discovered a love for the oceans and scuba diving on a vacation with a fellow mechanical engineer. A Wisconsin native, Clark had never been diving before, and the experience left him awestruck.

Shortly after his return, Clark was studying in a student lounge and noticed a poster on the wall promoting ocean engineering at Texas A & M. He kept thinking about it, and after his next study session, took the poster with him.

Despite being only vaguely familiar with Texas A & M, Clark transferred. He said, “I assumed it was in Texas, I knew they had a good football team, and I hoped it was near the Gulf of Mexico—two out of three wasn’t bad.” The course of study was similar to a civil engineering program but was a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering — particularly engineering principles related to oil rig structures — but he especially enjoyed a class about beaches. He was having fun and landing on the dean’s list, so upon graduation, he decided to continue with a master’s degree at the University of Florida.

He enjoyed the same level of academic success and fun at that program. “I made sure I stretched an 18-month master’s degree into a two-year master’s degree, so I could go scuba diving and go on the beaches.

During that time, Clark also made a valuable connection with a group from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Vicksburg, Mississippi, who were taking classes for one semester. He was offered a job there upon graduation and stayed for three years. By then, he had a young family and wanted to move back to Wisconsin. The only catch: He didn’t have any job leads in the state, or even any ideas about where to start.

“I didn’t know who was doing coastal engineering in the Great Lakes. I had no clue,” he said.

Man standing near green board

Gene Clark found working in the Great Lakes region rewarding. Here he is posing with water safety equipment. Photo: Marie Zhuikov

Clark made a visit to the coastal engineering professor at UW-Madison’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He was impressed with Clark’s experience and degrees and offered him a year’s worth of funding on one of his current projects. (The project was funded by Sea Grant, but Clark wouldn’t realize that until later.) From there, he earned a second master’s degree and was offered a job at Warzyn Engineering. Warzyn transferred him to Minnesota to a division that did more dam work and less coastal work, so Clark went back to the job search. He landed a position as the Minnesota state lakeshore engineer located in Duluth, Minnesota, and stayed for 10 years.

He said, “That’s where I really learned my education and outreach because I was getting grants from the coastal program or the Great Lakes Commission to do demonstration projects on Lake Superior or work with individual property owners, but yet still working with a state agency.”

Working with Wisconsin Sea Grant

After 10 years in Minnesota, Clark was settled and enjoying his work. He was always skilled in working with teams and had formed close relationships with many colleagues, including Phil Keillor, who was the coastal engineer for Wisconsin Sea Grant. One day, he received a call from Keillor announcing that he was retiring and suggesting that Clark might want to apply for the position. Clark wasn’t sure he wanted to leave Minnesota to take Keillor’s position in Madison, but in a happy coincidence, another Sea Grant specialist announced his retirement at the same time. When Harvey Hoven retired from his position as the coastal business specialist in Superior, Wisconsin, Clark had the ability to take the new position without moving.

He said, “It just fell in my lap. …and it was the best move I ever made.”

Clark went on to spend 15 years as Sea Grant’s coastal engineering specialist. It was an ideal position for someone who loves both science and working with people.

He said, “The way that Wisconsin Sea Grant is set up and operates is just so ideal for providing information and assistance to communities and property owners and other states’ programs. We could deliver a product that was honest, it was non-biased and it was science-based information.”

Whether he was working with partners from the UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering Department to develop a system to protect kayakers from unexpected high waves, harbor operators to identify causes and solutions for freshwater steel corrosion, port authorities to find beneficial uses for dredged sediment or homeowners facing eroding shorelines, Clark always enjoyed collaborating with others.

Man and woman standing near water and in tall grass.

Interacting, hands-on, with stakeholders in the field, Gene Clark inspected a coastal area following a 2011 flood. Photo: Marie Zhuikov

“And it didn’t take long, whenever I would meet with people or groups of people, for them to realize I’m not selling a product, I’m trying to help them. And I point out pros and cons, and then let them make the difference,” he said.

“It was all fulfilling. It wasn’t work. It was a blessing to be part of that,” he said.

Clark retired in 2019.

The future

The Covid pandemic limited Clark’s ability to meet with people, but he has been able to continue his work on two programs. One is based on a small grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review two drafts of their National Shoreline Management Study, providing technical and practical report support. The second is a small grant from the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, providing technical assistance to the rehab project team. With partners at Sea Grant, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Clark has been working to improve beach quality on degraded beaches without disturbing natural coastal processes. The team started with the Kenosha Dunes and continued with other degraded beaches in southeast Wisconsin.

This project illustrates what Clark calls “a couple of very positive paradigm shifts,” which are the movement toward nature-based shoreline designs and the beneficial use of dredged material. When he started his career, shoreline protection consisted primarily of concrete, large rocks and sheetpile – now nearly all projects are focused on greener, more natural designs that provide habitat and allow for natural coastal processes. Reusing clean dredged material has also become more and more accepted, saving landfill space and providing valuable fill material.

Clark also serves as a technical advisor to Wisconsin Sea Grant’s current coastal engineer, Adam Bechle, who has been hard at work continuing all of the projects Clark started, plus beginning his own. Clark said, “I can’t think of a better person to have in this position than Adam. He has the perfect mix of an excellent coastal engineering education and the ability to convey information to all levels of audiences. Wisconsin Sea Grant’s future is bright with respect to coastal engineering.”

 

The post Hard work, joy and more than a bit of luck add up to an accomplished coastal engineering career first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/hard-work-joy-and-more-than-a-bit-of-luck-add-up-to-an-accomplished-coastal-engineering-career/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hard-work-joy-and-more-than-a-bit-of-luck-add-up-to-an-accomplished-coastal-engineering-career

Elizabeth White

On:
In: Chad Scott, freshwater biocorrosion, Gene Clark, great lakes harbor corrosion, Jim Sharrow, microbially influenced corrosion, Mikael Elias, Randall Hicks, St. Louis River, Wilson Lake

Owners of steel structures on inland lakes and a river in northern Minnesota are reporting the same kind of corrosion as seen in the Duluth-Superior Harbor and other harbors along Lake Superior. A structural engineering firm reported it has designed and overseen replacement of gates on dams along the St. Louis River, far removed from Lake Superior water, because of the corrosion.

Along with partners, Gene Clark, retired Wisconsin Sea Grant coastal engineer, devoted considerable energy into ferreting out the causes of and ways to mitigate this corrosion, which can lead to costly harbor infrastructure replacement.

The accelerated corrosion of steel pilings in the Duluth-Superior Harbor was first noticed in 1998. Researchers funded in part by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant programs eventually identified microbes as the culprit combined with a complicated interaction between water and the steel. Bacteria form small lumps, or tubercles, on the steel. The lumps limit oxygen and allow small amounts of copper in the water to interact with and dissolve the steel, which results in pockmarks and holes that compromise steel structures.

A steel research “coupon” removed from the Duluth Superior Harbor in 2007 shows freshwater biocorrosion tubercles. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Experts brought together to investigate the issue blamed water chemistry specific to Lake Superior. However, those still tracking the issue have discovered this microbially influenced corrosion problem is more widespread.

Chad Scott, principal at AMI Consulting Engineers, initially alerted harbor industries about the corrosion issue in 1998 when he was a diver inspecting structures in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. Scott said during the past few years his company has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place steel samples (or coupons) in the St. Louis River at the Thompson Dam, Scanlon, Cloquet and near Cotton.

“At every single location along the river, the steel had the same tubercles on them,” Scott said. “So, what that tells me is, what’s coming to the harbor is coming down naturally from inland in Minnesota.”

Scott said his firm designed and oversaw replacement of gates on the Fond du Lac Dam and the Sappi Dam in Cloquet.

“They were all heavily pitted. It looked just like harbor corrosion,” Scott said. He’s also had friends report biocorrosion on their docks on Fish Lake, Island Lake and Grand Lake. He’s seen firsthand the dock posts covered by corrosive tubercles on those lakes.

A steel dock post on Wilson Lake near Cotton, shows the same biocorrosion tubercles as those found in the Duluth Superior Harbor. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Randall Hicks, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has worked for years to understand the microbiology behind the corrosion. He said he has seen the tubercles on his own dock on Barrs Lake near Two Harbors. He has also identified them in photos from a dock on Wilson Lake near Cotton.

“I don’t think it’s just a regional problem,” Hicks said. “I think it’s been happening all along for a long time in places where conditions are right.” Those conditions include the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria and iron-oxidizing bacteria, a source of dissolved sulfate and iron, and low-oxygen conditions such as those sometimes found in spring water.

Hicks described how the process begins when a clean sheet of steel is placed in water. “Different bacteria will attach to the surface and form a biofilm first.” Dental plaque is a common example of a biofilm. Microorganisms multiply and create a thin but tight layer on teeth. In this case, the biofilm layer is on steel.

“As that biofilm grows, we see a lot of iron-oxidizing bacteria – they’re aerobic microorganisms,” Hicks said. He explained that as the iron-oxidizing bacteria next to the steel surface use up oxygen, sulfate-reducing bacteria, bacteria that can live without oxygen, become common. “It’s really their activities in combination with activities of the iron-oxidizers in the biofilm that accelerate the loss of steel from the surface of the metal.”

Jim Sharrow, retired director of planning and resiliency with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said the corrosion bacteria are not an invasive species. “They’re indigenous to this area. They’re all over.”

The Canadian Northern dock in the Duluth Superior Harbor shows damage caused by freshwater microbial corrosion in 2007. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Previous research identified coatings that can be used to protect steel. Hicks is now working on ways to fool the bacteria in the first place. Hicks and Mikael Elias, associate professor from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, have found that adding a lactonase enzyme into a steel coating can reduce the biofilm produced, change the biofilm community and reduce the amount of corrosion. The lactonase enzyme works by destroying signaling molecules that the bacteria on steel produce to sense each other – in essence, fooling the bacteria into thinking they are alone, so “they don’t turn on genes to produce a biofilm,” Hicks said.

The nontoxic coating enzymes only last a month or two before degrading or diffusing out of the coating but Hicks said that, compared to untreated steel, the enzymes have reduced corrosion by 50% for at least two years, which was the length of their study.

“Hopefully, these enzymes can have an impact even farther out. If you’re in the shipping business and you expect a steel structure to last 100 years, then all of a sudden you have to replace it every 50 years because of the corrosion, that’s a big economic impact – and that’s just with doubling the corrosion rate. If we can reduce the rate, we don’t need to have a big impact to really extend the lifetime of structures quite a ways down the road,” Hicks said.

The University of Minnesota has applied for a patent for the lactonase enzyme coating. Hicks and Elias have also conducted tests in Lake Minnetonka and the Mississippi River to see if the same mechanism in the enzymes that inhibits biofilms from forming on steel inhibits larger invasive and nuisance organisms like zebra mussels and barnacles from attaching to underwater structures.

Elias said their experiments, funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund*, were successful. More recently, they added sites in sea water. Their pilot experiments in Florida show promise.

Until the lactonase enzyme coating becomes commercially available, what should cabin dock owners do to protect their steel from biocorrosion? Sharrow said, “Basically, what we found is, all you need to do is keep paint on your dock. You need to keep the water from touching the steel. You can use epoxy, but if you take your dock out every fall, you could probably use Rustoleum or something like that.”

Beyond docks, enzyme technology might also work on farm crops and in people. Elias said he is testing whether a lactonase enzyme spray can protect corn from a common bacterial infection (Gross’s wilt). Cystic fibrosis patients are prone to bacterial pneumonia, which forms in a biofilm.

Elias said, “One of our goals is to potentially use this enzyme as an aerosol to prevent biofilms in the lungs. . . It appears from our experiments that everywhere microbes are creating some sort of nuisance, this enzyme, because it changes the behavior of bacteria, can be helpful. We have a lot of different investigations to do and we are trying our best to pursue some of them as hard as we can.”

“This all grew out of those initial corrosion studies funded by Sea Grant and the work we did with Gene Clark and the other people in the corrosion study group,” Hicks said. Other organizations involved include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute.

*Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center and the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

The post Freshwater steel corrosion occurring beyond Lake Superior harbors first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/freshwater-steel-corrosion-occurring-beyond-lake-superior-harbors/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Chad Scott, freshwater biocorrosion, Gene Clark, great lakes harbor corrosion, Jim Sharrow, microbially influenced corrosion, Mikael Elias, Randall Hicks, St. Louis River, Wilson Lake

Owners of steel structures on inland lakes and a river in northern Minnesota are reporting the same kind of corrosion as seen in the Duluth-Superior Harbor and other harbors along Lake Superior. A structural engineering firm reported it has designed and overseen replacement of gates on dams along the St. Louis River, far removed from Lake Superior water, because of the corrosion.

Along with partners, Gene Clark, retired Wisconsin Sea Grant coastal engineer, devoted considerable energy into ferreting out the causes of and ways to mitigate this corrosion, which can lead to costly harbor infrastructure replacement.

The accelerated corrosion of steel pilings in the Duluth-Superior Harbor was first noticed in 1998. Researchers funded in part by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant programs eventually identified microbes as the culprit combined with a complicated interaction between water and the steel. Bacteria form small lumps, or tubercles, on the steel. The lumps limit oxygen and allow small amounts of copper in the water to interact with and dissolve the steel, which results in pockmarks and holes that compromise steel structures.

A steel research “coupon” removed from the Duluth Superior Harbor in 2007 shows freshwater biocorrosion tubercles. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Experts brought together to investigate the issue blamed water chemistry specific to Lake Superior. However, those still tracking the issue have discovered this microbially influenced corrosion problem is more widespread.

Chad Scott, principal at AMI Consulting Engineers, initially alerted harbor industries about the corrosion issue in 1998 when he was a diver inspecting structures in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. Scott said during the past few years his company has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place steel samples (or coupons) in the St. Louis River at the Thompson Dam, Scanlon, Cloquet and near Cotton.

“At every single location along the river, the steel had the same tubercles on them,” Scott said. “So, what that tells me is, what’s coming to the harbor is coming down naturally from inland in Minnesota.”

Scott said his firm designed and oversaw replacement of gates on the Fond du Lac Dam and the Sappi Dam in Cloquet.

“They were all heavily pitted. It looked just like harbor corrosion,” Scott said. He’s also had friends report biocorrosion on their docks on Fish Lake, Island Lake and Grand Lake. He’s seen firsthand the dock posts covered by corrosive tubercles on those lakes.

A steel dock post on Wilson Lake near Cotton, shows the same biocorrosion tubercles as those found in the Duluth Superior Harbor. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Randall Hicks, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has worked for years to understand the microbiology behind the corrosion. He said he has seen the tubercles on his own dock on Barrs Lake near Two Harbors. He has also identified them in photos from a dock on Wilson Lake near Cotton.

“I don’t think it’s just a regional problem,” Hicks said. “I think it’s been happening all along for a long time in places where conditions are right.” Those conditions include the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria and iron-oxidizing bacteria, a source of dissolved sulfate and iron, and low-oxygen conditions such as those sometimes found in spring water.

Hicks described how the process begins when a clean sheet of steel is placed in water. “Different bacteria will attach to the surface and form a biofilm first.” Dental plaque is a common example of a biofilm. Microorganisms multiply and create a thin but tight layer on teeth. In this case, the biofilm layer is on steel.

“As that biofilm grows, we see a lot of iron-oxidizing bacteria – they’re aerobic microorganisms,” Hicks said. He explained that as the iron-oxidizing bacteria next to the steel surface use up oxygen, sulfate-reducing bacteria, bacteria that can live without oxygen, become common. “It’s really their activities in combination with activities of the iron-oxidizers in the biofilm that accelerate the loss of steel from the surface of the metal.”

Jim Sharrow, retired director of planning and resiliency with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said the corrosion bacteria are not an invasive species. “They’re indigenous to this area. They’re all over.”

The Canadian Northern dock in the Duluth Superior Harbor shows damage caused by freshwater microbial corrosion in 2007. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Previous research identified coatings that can be used to protect steel. Hicks is now working on ways to fool the bacteria in the first place. Hicks and Mikael Elias, associate professor from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, have found that adding a lactonase enzyme into a steel coating can reduce the biofilm produced, change the biofilm community and reduce the amount of corrosion. The lactonase enzyme works by destroying signaling molecules that the bacteria on steel produce to sense each other – in essence, fooling the bacteria into thinking they are alone, so “they don’t turn on genes to produce a biofilm,” Hicks said.

The nontoxic coating enzymes only last a month or two before degrading or diffusing out of the coating but Hicks said that, compared to untreated steel, the enzymes have reduced corrosion by 50% for at least two years, which was the length of their study.

“Hopefully, these enzymes can have an impact even farther out. If you’re in the shipping business and you expect a steel structure to last 100 years, then all of a sudden you have to replace it every 50 years because of the corrosion, that’s a big economic impact – and that’s just with doubling the corrosion rate. If we can reduce the rate, we don’t need to have a big impact to really extend the lifetime of structures quite a ways down the road,” Hicks said.

The University of Minnesota has applied for a patent for the lactonase enzyme coating. Hicks and Elias have also conducted tests in Lake Minnetonka and the Mississippi River to see if the same mechanism in the enzymes that inhibits biofilms from forming on steel inhibits larger invasive and nuisance organisms like zebra mussels and barnacles from attaching to underwater structures.

Elias said their experiments, funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund*, were successful. More recently, they added sites in sea water. Their pilot experiments in Florida show promise.

Until the lactonase enzyme coating becomes commercially available, what should cabin dock owners do to protect their steel from biocorrosion? Sharrow said, “Basically, what we found is, all you need to do is keep paint on your dock. You need to keep the water from touching the steel. You can use epoxy, but if you take your dock out every fall, you could probably use Rustoleum or something like that.”

Beyond docks, enzyme technology might also work on farm crops and in people. Elias said he is testing whether a lactonase enzyme spray can protect corn from a common bacterial infection (Gross’s wilt). Cystic fibrosis patients are prone to bacterial pneumonia, which forms in a biofilm.

Elias said, “One of our goals is to potentially use this enzyme as an aerosol to prevent biofilms in the lungs. . . It appears from our experiments that everywhere microbes are creating some sort of nuisance, this enzyme, because it changes the behavior of bacteria, can be helpful. We have a lot of different investigations to do and we are trying our best to pursue some of them as hard as we can.”

“This all grew out of those initial corrosion studies funded by Sea Grant and the work we did with Gene Clark and the other people in the corrosion study group,” Hicks said. Other organizations involved include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute.

*Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center and the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

The post Freshwater steel corrosion occurring beyond Lake Superior harbors first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/freshwater-steel-corrosion-occurring-beyond-lake-superior-harbors/

Marie Zhuikov