- Austin Becker
Biographical Information
Austin Becker began his Ph.D. in 2008. He moved to California from Providence, where he lived for 9 years. He's spent the vast majority of his life on, in, or alongside the sea.
Austin holds a 500-Ton U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license for ocean-going vessels. As captain for eight years of the 18th-century Continental Sloop Providence and other schooners and tall ships, he designed and oversaw educational programs that engaged students in leadership training, taught traditional seamanship skills, and developed educational programs in maritime heritage, marine science, and contemporary marine affairs. He also has a license to fire shipboard cannons! As a professional sailor, Austin traveled throughout the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, the Caribbean, Thailand, and New Zealand.
He and his fiancé reside in Half Moon Bay, CA.
Research Interests
Austin's Ph.D. research explores the potential impacts of climate change on seaports around the globe. He focuses on the "adaptation" side of climate change and works across the disciplines of policy, economics, engineering and climate-change science to quantify the risks and vulnerabilities faced by ports and the economies that depend upon them. He is also exploring potential adaptation strategies that ports, policy makers, and the insurance industry may employ to build resiliency in the face of climate change.
Professional Activities
Before coming to Stanford, Austin worked for Rhode Island Sea Grant and the Coastal Resources Center on policy issues around urban working waterfronts and ports, marine-based recreation and tourism, and coastal environmental issues. In his role as a Marine Research Associate, he studied and analyzed data collected from maritime-industry stakeholders and collaborated on creating policy solutions that addressed conflicting demands for limited waterfront space, the marine economy, and the ecological health of the urban waterfront.
In other previous lives, he owned and operated a yacht charter business with a classic wooden sailboat, worked as a marine surveyor, managed a marina on Cape Cod, and served on the municipal Harbor Management Committee in Provincetown, Mass.
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