Maitane Olabarrieta Lizaso is a Spanish and American oceanographer and a specialist in coastal morphodynamics, the study of the interactions between coastal landforms and the motions of ocean water created by tides, currents, waves, and weather. She is a professor of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida, and associate director of the university's Center for Coastal Solutions.
Education and career Olabarrieta was a student of marine science at the University of Cantabria in Spain. After a 1999 bachelor's degree and 2003 master's degree, she completed her Ph.D. there in 2006.
In 2009 she became a postdoctoral researcher at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center of the United States Geological Survey. She took her present position as a faculty member at the University of Florida in 2013.
Recognition Olabarrieta was a 2017 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, given "for her groundbreaking research aimed at understanding the interaction of multiple-stressors on coral reef ecosystems, using cutting-edge genomics approaches to identify mechanisms of coral resistance to disease, and developing educational programs that engage high school and undergraduate students in the research".
References
External links Coastal Hazards Modeling Lab