BATON ROUGE - Today, Governor John Bel Edwards joined area officials to unveil the LSU Center for River Studies that will be dedicated to coastal restoration and river management.

Researchers have a new tool to study Louisiana's coastal communities. 

The water campus is a model designed to simulate the Mississippi River's depth, sediment, and flow.

"All we did is we shrunk the river and put it in a building," Rudy Simoneaux of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Agency said.

Researchers from LSU's river studies program use the model to analyze issues the coastal wetlands are facing

"The masterplan has several sediment diversions," Simoneaux said. "We want to look at how they all behave, how they impact one another, how they impact the river. This model will help us do that."

The model is made out of a high-density foam filled with water and sediment. Dozens of projectors above show the Southeastern portion of Louisiana.

With help from the model, LSU students will look at different ways they can use the river and its resources.

"To collect data, to analyze that data about the river to think about how that information is used by the state and also communicated to the citizens to the policymakers around the state and the region," LSU professor, Clint Willson, said.