Employee spotlight: Scott Baker, Coastal Engineer, Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering Research Centre

Scott Baker is a specialist in the application of physical and numerical modelling to investigate and develop solutions for a wide variety of problems in rivers, estuaries, oceans and coastal regions. He has been responsible for numerous international modelling studies to help optimize and validate the engineering design of major ports, coastal structures, offshore platforms, waterfront developments, nature-based designs and marine renewable energy technologies.

? He felt drawn to engineering from a very young age.

"Growing up, I loved playing with LEGO (and I still do!) and have always been fascinated by many topics in science and engineering. I also spent countless hours as a child playing?SimCity 2000. By the time I hit high school, it was a given that I would either be an engineer or perhaps an architect."

During Scott's undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering, he imagined a future career working as an engineering consultant building skyscrapers, roads and bridges. He was about to start a master's degree when a new professor joined the University of Ottawa and was looking for graduate students to supervise.

"That's when I got introduced to the world of coastal engineering and I was immediately hooked. My thesis supervisors got me into the NRC's Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering (OCRE) Research Centre to assist on a commercial study and conduct some extra testing for my thesis work."

Scott started working for the NRC as a technician and, after graduating, as a researcher, and has been here ever since.

"I have a dream job; I literally play with rocks and water on a daily basis! Most projects only last a few months, so it never feels like you're stuck doing the same thing day after day. Each project is from a unique place in the world and has unique challenges to deal with, so it makes for interesting and rewarding work! OCRE's facilities are very visually appealing and I really enjoy talking about what we do to various groups, such as clients, visitors and new employees during onboarding tours."

Scott particularly enjoys talking to high school and university students, getting the next generation interested in science and engineering.

Scott has presented at numerous conferences throughout his career and wrote many conference papers and technical reports, but it was only recently that he published his first journal paper as the primary author, which was quite rewarding. He is proud of the many projects he worked on in the lab that were then built in the real world, thanks to the work he and his colleagues did to optimize and validate the designs.

To learn more about Scott and the contributions of many of the talented people that make up the NRC, visit our?stories webpage: