Patrick Friend Named ECSA Ambassador for the U.S.

Integral Consulting Inc. is pleased to announce that Patrick Friend, Ph.D., P.G., has been named the Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) Ambassador for the United States.

Patrick Friend measures sediment accretion rates on an intertidal flat as part of his coastal resiliency work.

A coastal and marine strategic advisor based in Integral’s Houston office, Dr. Friend advocates for intelligent solutions that work with nature.

“The coastal zone—the interface between land and sea—has always been important to me since growing up among the estuaries and beaches of southern England,” says Dr. Friend. “Today, more than ever before, estuarine and coastal science is critical to our understanding of natural systems in the coastal zone, and their interaction with human-induced effects.”

International organization ECSA, founded in 1971, is dedicated to advancing multidisciplinary research into all aspects of estuaries and coasts, and in applying that knowledge to sustainable environmental management. As Ambassador, Dr. Friend will promote ECSA awareness in the United States within existing academic, governmental, and consultancy groups, and importantly among young coastal and estuarine scientists.

At Integral, Dr. Friend is working on various projects in the coastal zone, including studies that examine ecosystem effects of heavy metal input from pyrotechnics, that model the effects of dredging on nearby seagrass meadows, and that aim to improve coastal resiliency in areas subject to intense erosion.

Dr. Friend spent 8 years as a research fellow at the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, where he led three European Union projects, and worked as consultant on the MOSE flood protection scheme in Venice Lagoon, Italy. With more than 20 years of experience working in both government and industry, Dr. Friend has in‑depth scientific expertise focused on bio-sedimentology, sediment transport, and coastal geomorphology.

Dr. Friend is a reviewer for a number of international scientific journals, and has published on topics ranging from sediment transport pathways in dredged estuaries to bio–sediment interaction in the coastal zone, and shallow gas accumulation in modern deltaic systems. His paper, “Bio‑dependent Bed Parameters as a Proxy Tool for Sediment Stability in Mixed Habitat Intertidal Areas,” won the award for most-cited publication, Continental Shelf Research, 2003–2007.

Integral’s estuarine and coastal services include coastal engineering and resiliency, offshore energy assessment, climate change and sea level rise, oceanography, and new monitoring technologies, including tools such as sediment profile imaging and acoustic monitoring.

For more information, contact Dr. Friend at pfriend@integral-corp.com.