David K. Weinstein dweinstein@rsmas.miami.edu Marine Scientist, Analyst, Program Manger, Principal Investigator, and Webmaster CV (last updated 03/01/2024)

I aspire to improve our understanding of coral reef geology and structure, and to educate the public and new scientists. My interests and expertise include mesophotic coral ecolsystems and geology, artificial reefs, habitat restoration, coastal erosion and mitigation (especially associated with coral reefs), and sea-level fluctuations. My college education began in 2000 at the University of Rochester (optical engineering) but I transfered to University of Maryland (UMD) in 2005 and switched to Electrical Engineering. However, eventually discovering my preference for working outside, I switched majors and received a Bachelors of Science from the UMD Geology Department in August 2007. While at Maryland, I also worked at the Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory.

My interests in marine geology began when I got SCUBA certified in Little Cayman Island in August 2005, after completing my first geology class. These interests were further developed when working in Miami with Dr. Robert Ginsburg for an internship in the summer of 2006.  Some of this work developed into my senior research thesis, Taphonomy of the Late Pleistocene Key Largo Limestone:  A comparison of modern and ancient coral reef ecosystems.

I received my PhD at the University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) in the division of Marine Geology and Geophysic in 2014.  My dissertation, Deep reef bioeroerion:  Sedimentology of mesophotic coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on understanding the variability and impact of bioerosion and other sedimentary processes on the deveopment, maintenance, structural sustainability, and destruction of mesophotic reefs.  This provided one of the first in-depth analyses of the structural foundation of mesophotic reefs, allowing for estimates of their sustained health and past and future growth potential.  The research was partially funded with a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Other funding was provided by the Geological Society of America, Sigma Xi, the GCSSEPM Foundation, ExxonMobil, the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences, the University of Miami Center for Latin American Studies, the Leonard and Jayne Abess/Citizens Board, and the RSMAS Graduate Student Fund.

After my doctoral studies, I was awarded my first (short-term) postdoctoral position by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, in the Molecular Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology (MISE) lab of James Reimer.  In Okinawa, I analyzed mesophotic coral reef recovery after major typhoon damage, as well as studied sedimentary characteristics of these deep systems (with experiments still ongoing).  Following that research, I was awarded a Zuckerman Post-doctoral Scholarship for work in Eilat, Israel at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, studying the evolution, age, and past sea level history of submerged fossil terraces in the Gulf of Aqaba, which form the basis for Israel’s critical modern mesophotic coral reef ecosystems. 

Since working in Academia, I continue to collaborate with colleagues on more mesophotic reef research (ongoing projects in Okinawa, Japan, and Eilat, Israel). I also have worked as a government contractor (NOAA), an independent consultant (e.g., with a law firm litigating toxic exposure from the deposition of material produced as a result of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizons oil spill), for the US Army Corps of Engineers (NEPA coastal studies, primiarly related to Port Everglades), and as the director of strategy and lead scientist for the marine conservation and restoration non-profit Ocean Rescue Alliance (specializing in artificial reefs) and as an independent consultant (see Weinstein Reefworks).