TYBEE ISLAND, Georgia – Tanner Jernigan has spent much of his life around the water – hunting, fishing and even competitive swimming. Last March, the former high school state champion swimmer turned engineer was supporting an ongoing research project on Tybee Island, Georgia, when he leaned into all that experience to save the lives of three children.
Jernigan, a coastal research engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), works at the ERDC Field Research Facility, part of the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory.
He was assisting with a long-term monitoring project on the island, where researchers are studying the impact large wakes created by passing cargo ships have on the coastline and the threat they pose to beachgoers…