Dr. Beach

Stephen Leatherman is a man of many identities.

As Dr. Leatherman, he is one of the nation's foremost experts on beach erosion and storm impacts, the author of more than 200 journal articles and scholarly reports and the director of the International Hurricane Center and Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University in Miami. Leatherman, who received his Ph.D. in environmental sciences from U.Va. in 1976, is a pioneer of metric mapping, a computer technique used to measure shoreline change. Two years ago, he and his colleagues used shoreline change data from most of the East Coast to demonstrate that rising sea level is the principal driver of the erosion affecting most of our beaches today. "This is a critical connection," he said. "We were able to show that very small increases in sea level can have outsized effects on a beach."

But to the general public, Leatherman is Dr. Beach, the author of the much-anticipated annual list of Top 10 Beaches in America. Over the last decade, Leatherman's best beach list has become a fixture of travel and vacation magazines, drawing attention from tourists and tourist boards alike. In the process, Leatherman has become a celebrity, discussing award-winning beaches on such programs as "Today," "Good Morning America" and "Oprah."

"I've continued to produce the list because it's a great way to make people more aware of the things they can do to preserve or improve the quality of our beaches," Leatherman pointed out. "It's always important to have scientists talking directly to the public."

Leatherman's transformation into Dr. Beach was entirely accidental. He was on his way to China when a journalist called requesting a list of the country's best beaches. Leatherman rattled off the first 10 that came to mind and left for the airport. On his return, he was taken aback by the controversy he had generated--and determined to develop a systematic assessment of the nation's public beaches. It helped that he had visited all 650 over the previous two years, generating notebooks of data and more than 60,000 slides.

Today, Leatherman reviews annual data on these beaches using a list of 50 different criteria that range from wind speed to the presence of seaweed to sand color. This year's winner was St. Joseph's Peninsula State Park in Florida.

Leatherman's identities as a scholar and pundit come together in his Healthy Beaches Campaign, launched last year. Leatherman and his colleagues at the Laboratory for Coastal Research certify those beaches that meet standards for cleanliness, safety and water quality. So far, more than 20 beaches are participating. "We want people to know that there are a lot of great beaches out there besides the top 10," he said.

Leatherman credits the interdisciplinary focus of U.Va.'s environmental sciences department and the example set by professors like George Hornberger, whom Leatherman describes as "the best professor I ever had," for his success as both scientist and beach advocate. "I had my first real encounter with computerized mapping while a grad student at U.Va., an experience that changed my career," he said. "And the passion and clarity that people like George bring to the subject showed me that it was possible to make difficult ideas accessible."

For information on Dr. Leatherman and his alter ego, Dr. Beach, visit his Web site: www.drbeach.org.