Mead A. Allison is the Director of Physical Processes and Sediment Systems at The Water Institute of the Gulf in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. His general areas of expertise are sedimentology of the continental margin, particle-reactive radioisotopes, seafloor mapping, geomorphic impact of cyclonic storms, and the impact of human alteration of coastal environments. He has worked in riverine, coastal, estuarine and shelf systems around the world with particular emphasis on the continental margins of the