earth science

Stanley R. Riggs

Stanley R. Riggs is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stanley R. Riggs rather than just read about it. In short: Stanley R. Riggs (born May 20, 1938) is an American coastal geologist and professor.

Key takeaways

Stanley R. Riggs belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stanley R. Riggs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stanley R. Riggs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stanley R. Riggs (born May 20, 1938) is an American coastal geologist and professor. In 1967, Riggs received his Ph.D. from the University of Montana and joined the faculty at East Carolina University as an assistant professor of geology. He retired in 1999, but returned to the university as a Distinguished Research Professor and was later honored as a professor emeritus. Since the early 1960s, Riggs has been dedicated to the study of coastal processes in North Carolina and beyond. His early work focused on tracking shoreline erosion rates. Riggs was vital to the establishment of ECU's geology and marine science programs and founded "ECU by the Sea," an interdisciplinary program combining biological and geological studies on Roanoke Island. His service on a United Nations project involving the utilization of resources in developing countries earned Riggs the O. Max Gardner Award in 1983. Riggs' contributions extend to hundreds of works, including his books: The Battle for North Carolina's Coast and Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic. His research and service on advisory panels have informed North Carolina state policy. Through research grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and US Geological Survey, Dr. Riggs has consistently been able to expand the understanding of North Carolina's dynamic coastal system. Riggs' research now deals with the ongoing changing climate dynamics occurring within North Carolina's coastal system across time. It is to be presented in a 10-part book series, of which Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic is the first installment. In 2013, Riggs founded North Carolina Land of Water (NCLOW) alongside long-time collaborator Dorothea V. Ames. The organization is dedicated to sustaining North Carolina's coast through public education and efforts to inform development.

Early life and education Riggs was born in Watertown, Wisconsin and grew up in the Green Bay area. He developed a passion for geology and marine biology and pursued the subjects post-secondarily. As a boy, in Wisconsin, Riggs explored bird migrations, swamps and lakes with his younger brother, John. Riggs received his B.S. from Beloit College (1960), M.A. from Dartmouth College (1962), and his Ph.D. from the University of Montana (1967), before becoming a professor at ECU. He would spend 55 years on the faculty.

Work

Books The following is a list of books authored by Riggs:

The Soundfront Series: Shoreline Erosion in North Carolina Estuaries (2001) Drowning the North Carolina Coast: Sea-Level Rise and Estuarine Dynamics (2003) The Battle for North Carolina's Coast: Evolutionary History, Present Crisis, and Vision for the Future (2011) Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic (2025) In 2025, with the release of Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic, the rollout of a 10-part series that will present the scope of Riggs' lifetime of work to a general audience began. The first volume is part of a trilogy covering North Carolina's southern Outer Banks.

Other Riggs continues to contribute to academic literature and has been recently published in journals like PALAIOS. Some of his most referenced works present findings on barrier shore face morphology and phosphorite systems.

Awards and recognition For his work on a United Nations project, Riggs received the Oliver Max Gardner Award in 1983. This is awarded for contributions to the welfare of the human race. In 1986, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Senior Research Fellowship, awarded by the Australian Minister for Science. In 1989, Riggs was named a Geological Society of America Fellow and, in 1994, was recognized as a Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences distinguished professor. He would later be honored as a professor emeritus. Recently, Riggs received the Francis P. Shepard Medal of the Society for Sedimentary Geologists (2021), and the North Carolina Award for Science (2022).

Contributions In addition to his work at ECU, Riggs collaborated with scholars at universities across North Carolina as an adjunct professor. His service on numerous panels concerning state issues has helped to shape policy and protect North Carolina's coastlines. He served on the Coastal Resources Commission's Science Panel and the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change. Grants in support of his research have come from the National Science Foundation, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, US Geological Survey, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and more. With the founding of North Carolina Land of Water in 2013, Riggs and his collaborators set out to connect his research to North Carolina's communities and work to sustain the coast through a dynamic model. This involves supporting informed planning, educational programming, and land conservation efforts, as well as publishing accessible literature. NCLOW partners with organizations like NC Coastal Land Trust and NC Coastal Federation in its efforts.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stanley R. Riggs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stanley R. Riggs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stanley R. Riggs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stanley R. Riggs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stanley R. Riggs

In research: Stanley R. Riggs appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stanley R. Riggs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stanley R. Riggs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 births, 20th-century American geologists, 21st-century American geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stanley R. Riggs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stanley R. Riggs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stanley R. Riggs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stanley R. Riggs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stanley R. Riggs in simple terms?

Stanley R. Riggs (born May 20, 1938) is an American coastal geologist and professor.

Why does Stanley R. Riggs matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stanley R. Riggs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stanley R. Riggs.