Rate My Professor Phil Bresnahan

Phil Bresnahan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a member of the Center for Marine Science. He serves as Principal Investigator of the Coastal Ocean Applied Science & Technology (COAST) Lab, focusing on coastal water resources and resilience through ocean and environmental engineering. Bresnahan earned his PhD in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego in 2015 after completing his BS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in 2008. His career includes roles as a research engineer and Director of the Sandbox Makerspace at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, head of R&D for the Smartfin Project, and environmental scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute from 2015 to 2016. At UNCW, he coordinates the Coastal UAS Observatory at the Center for Marine Science and contributes to projects on community flood resilience, including collaborations with the City of Wilmington.

Bresnahan's research centers on environmental sensor networks and coastal oceanography, emphasizing sensor innovation, cloud data management, and analysis for addressing coastal phenomena such as ocean acidification, water quality degradation, microplastics, sewage, deoxygenation, and eutrophication. He develops low-cost IoT devices, participatory science methods like Secchi disk observations and surfboard-fin sensors, and remote sensing techniques for ocean color and air-water CO2 flux estimation. Notable publications include 'Best practices for autonomous measurement of seawater pH with the Honeywell Durafet' (Methods in Oceanography, 2014), 'Short-term spatial and temporal carbonate chemistry variability in two contrasting seagrass meadows: implications for pH buffering capacities' (Estuaries and Coasts, 2018), 'Equipping smart coasts with marine water quality IoT sensors' (Results in Engineering, 2020), and 'A high-tech, low-cost, Internet of Things surfboard fin for coastal citizen science, outreach, and education' (Continental Shelf Research, 2022). He is an Associate Editor for Oceanography and has delivered seminars on smart coasts and sensor networks. His work advances in situ monitoring and community-engaged science for coastal resilience.