The Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST) program conducted an interdisciplinary study of coastal upwelling off central Oregon during summer 2001. Two intensive field efforts during May--June and August 2001 were coordinated with ocean circulation, ecosystem, and atmospheric modeling of the region. A primary goal was to contrast the coastal ocean response to wind forcing in a region of relatively simple alongshore bottom topography versus that associated with a substantial submarine bank. In this overview we provide background motivation for the COAST project and summarize the major research findings.