Lookout: UCSC Innovation Impact Awards: Innovator of the Year - Mike Beck

Mike Beck is being honored as the 2025 Innovator of the Year for advancing nature-based solutions that protect coastlines and communities from climate-driven storms and flooding. As director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, Beck has emerged as a global leader in quantifying how ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, and wetlands reduce storm damage and flood risk. Over the past year, Beck and his collaborators published influential research that connects ecological protection to economic outcomes, translating scientific findings into terms that insurers, governments, and policymakers can act on. Read MORE.