Michael Beck

Professor Michael W. Beck is the AXA Chair in Coastal Resilience, Research Professor in the Institute of Marine Sciences, and Adjunct Professor in Ocean Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz. Mike aims to reduce risks to people, property and nature in his work across science, policy and practice. His approach is multi-disciplinary across ecology, engineering and economics.

Mike has authored 80+peer-reviewed science articles as well as reports commissioned by key agencies (e.g., World Bank); and numerous on-line, interactive decision-support tools. His work covers topics from the role of coral reefs in reducing risks from storms to the effects of people on extinctions of Pleistocene mammals.

He has also published numerous popular articles including Op-eds in the NY Times, The Hill, Miami Herald, The Scientist and the Huffington Post. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and Pew Marine Conservation Fellow. Mike worked for 20 years at The Nature Conservancy helping first to establish a global marine program and then to serve as Lead Marine Scientist.