Prof. Becker is an interdisciplinary social scientist working across the fields of planning, policy, engineering, and climate-change science. His research contributes to untangling complex problems involving uncertainty, consequences of large-scale shifts in climate over long time horizons, and the resulting challenges in policy and planning. Prof. Becker holds a joint appointment between Marine Affairs and Landscape Architecture. He will teach courses in both departments on coastal climate adaptation, maritime transportation systems and ports, and GIS. He is particularly interested in the use of GIS-based risk and vulnerability assessments and decision-support tools for local stakeholders in both the US and developing nations facing rising seas and stronger storms.

Prof. Becker earned his PhD in Stanford University’s Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. His dissertation used empirical data collected through case studies, interviews, and global surveys to understand climate-change intensified disasters in the coastal-built environment, and on seaports in particular. As recently seen after superstorm Sandy, resilience issues have become all the more pressing as cities like New York search for acceptable solutions to mitigate large-scale infrastructure damage to seaports, airports, subway systems, water and sewer, and the like. Meeting these challenges in an economically and environmentally sustainable way is one of the century’s most pressing problems.

Prof. Becker’s work is recognized globally and he is a regularly invited speaker at expert meetings of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, as well as numerous conferences in the United States. He also served as a contributing author to the National Climate Assessment and to the American Society of Civil Engineers manual on sea level rise considerations for marine civil works.

Before his PhD, he worked at Rhode Island Seagrant and URI’s Coastal Resources Center. He earned his Master of Marine Affairs and Master of Environmental Science and Management degrees at the URI and he holds a B.A. from Hampshire College. His previous career was as a captain of educational sailing ships, including Rhode Island’s Continental Sloop Providence. He maintains a 500-Ton U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license for ocean-going vessels. Prof. Becker is also an avid marathon runner and surfer.