Williams Geosciences Professor Awarded NSF Grant to Study Boulder Beach Response to Storms

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Rónadh Cox, the Edward Brust professor of geology and mineralogy at Williams College, has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The three-year, $340,000 grant will support her research on how boulder beaches respond to storms and how they change over time.

Boulder beaches record wave action on stormy coastlines, but surprisingly little is known about them. Cox's NSF-funded project, titled "Boulder Beaches: The Understudied Archive on High-Energy Coasts," aims to increase understanding of their dynamic evolution. The study focuses on 22 sites in Ireland, which has a wide range of boulder-beach settings, so that the results will be applicable to other locations world-wide. 

Using a combination of state-of-the-art aerial photogrammetry and hands-on field measurements, she will determine how factors such as wave energy, coastal geometry, topography, geology and boulder sizes control beach morphologies. As the first multi-parametric study of boulder beaches and how it responds to storms, Cox's project, which will engage students in every phase of the work, will be the most comprehensive examination yet undertaken of this dynamic and long-ignored environment.

"The moment is ripe, because as sea level rises and high-energy wave attack on coastal infrastructure becomes more frequent, there is a growing need for studies of high-energy coasts, both to understand coastal response to storms and coastal hazards, and also as a resource for engineers as they work to improve coastal protection approaches," Cox said. "As the main depositional record of wave action on rocky coasts, boulder beaches should be playing a central part in this conversation, but the lack of data and understanding have prevented their integration into coastal geomorphologic thinking. I’m particularly excited to involve Williams students in this work, and I have an excellent rising senior, Aria Mason, who has already begun research on the project."

Cox's research interests include sedimentology, sedimentary petrology, geochronology and planetary geomorphology. At Williams since 1996, she has taught courses on oceanography, geochemistry, planetary geology, and earth resources, among other subjects. Her work has been widely published and cited. She received her B.Sc. from University College Dublin, Ireland, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Williamstown Fire District Dedicates New Station

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
06:37AM / Sunday, May 31, 2026

Chief Jeffrey Dias recognizes firefighter Alexandra Riggs, who will graduate from Williams College next week. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Massachusetts fire marshal came to town Saturday to congratulate the local Fire District and the taxpayers of Williamstown for the "amazing" station they have built on Main Street.

 

"I travel around the state, and I've seen hundreds of firehouses around the state — some great, some not so great," Fire Marshal Jon Davine told a crowd gathered outside the station for its dedication. "And I think we saw what the previous station here was in Williamstown. I'll tell you, especially in Western Massachusetts, we have a really big problem with deteriorating firehouses throughout Western Mass. These buildings are collapsing around our firefighters.

 

"And, as the marshal, it's my job to advocate for the departments for more funding. We've been working with our state reps and local reps and the fire chiefs association, trying to come up with different funding streams, so that we can help these departments build new stations, do better, safer stations, so that they have the equipment and the building they deserve to do their job safely."

 

The chair of the Prudential Committee, which governs the Fire District, and the chief of the department both thanked Williamstown residents for the 2023 special district meeting vote that paved the way for the station that went into operation earlier this year.

 

"It's an honor and a privilege to join you today as we celebrate this grand opening of the new firehouse," Chief Jeffrey Dias said. "This facility is so much more than a building that houses fire trucks. It stands as a symbol of our community's commitment to safety, preparedness and public service. It's a place where our members will maintain our equipment. They will learn about our craft. They'll share meals and, yes, from time to time, they're going to share sorrow.

 

"This isn't a fire station. This is a firehouse. And people have heard me say this a million times already. And it houses the very best second family that one could imagine."

 

Dias was joined at the podium set up in the parking lot for the noon ceremony by Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi, state Rep. John Barrett III and the the Rev. William F. Cyr, who gave an invocation.