Dr. Miles Medina joined the Center for Coastal Solutions as a postdoctoral research fellow in April 2021. Along with Center Director Christine Angelini and Center-affiliated faculty, he is investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics and drivers of coastal algae blooms and related water quality impairments in Florida—in particular, red tide blooms in the Charlotte Harbor Estuary and cyanobacteria blooms in the St. Lucie Estuary. Miles is also developing web-based dashboards to visualize and disseminate hydrological and water quality data to the research community and the public. Previously, he worked as a consultant creating advanced quantitative tools to track sources of water quality impairments for various government entities throughout Florida. 

As a quantitative environmental scientist, Miles brings expertise in machine learning, chaotic dynamics, and inferring causality in complex systems, with applied experience in Florida’s freshwater and coastal systems. He earned a PhD at UF’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2019, with a thesis that investigated nonlinear phosphorus removal dynamics in the Everglades Stormwater Treatment Areas and systematic anthropogenic drivers of red tide blooms on the Gulf Coast; a master’s degree in environmental science and agroecology at FIU in 2014, with a thesis on aquaponics and water quality; and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management at UF in 2005. 

In his own words:

I’m a Florida native (born and raised in Miami) who loves the beach and the water, and I’m thrilled to be working with this talented and diverse group of students and experts toward improving water quality around the state. A major professional goal since graduate school has been to leverage Florida’s rich monitoring datasets to advance the level of scientific inquiry and data analysis that inform water quality regulation, policy, and restoration. By developing and applying advanced analytical tools, we can disentangle these complex and interconnected systems to identify drivers as targets for policy and management action.