The Hydraulics, Coastal and Environmental Engineering Lab (HCEE) is conducting research on the water flows on the earth surface from the engineering viewpoints. Our research activities are not limited to research in the laboratory. The feature is that our education and research directly incorporate field studies of the sea, mountains, and rivers by taking advantage of the geographical and natural environment characteristics of Okinawa Prefecture, which belongs to the subtropical region. Furthermore, utilizing the unique education and research environment in Southern Ryukyu, allows us to broaden the scope of our efforts to understand the characteristics of the natural environment in Japan as a whole, to design social infrastructure and disaster prevention, and to tackle global issues.

We are conducting researches using various approaches. Some of the current research subjects are: field survey of coastal current and ecosystem, field surveys of rivers, wave experiments using the largest wave-making channel among Japanese universities, numerical simulations of flood flows, tsunami and debris flows using supercomputers, design new offshore structures, wave creation suitable for surfing, ocean energy development, tsunami disaster prevention research, etc. These achievements are used in disaster prevention technologies of floods, debris flow, tsunami and high waves, developments of new coastal conservation technology, beach design in consideration of the natural environment, river design and erosion control.