Mark Patterson
Professor, Marine and Environmental Sciences
Jointly Appointed, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Chief Technology Officer, Global Resilience Institute
Contact
- m.patterson@northeastern.edu
- 0 Marine Science Center
430 Nahant Road
Nahant, Massachusetts 01908
Social Media
Office
- 781.581.7370 x313
Research Focus
Development of autonomous underwater robots for civil infrastructure and marine sensing; decision support tools for gray/green infrastructure like tide gates; environmental fluid mechanics; biomechanics and mass transfer in living systems
Education
- Ph.D., Biology, Harvard University, 1985
- A.M., Biology, Harvard University, 1982
- A.B., magna cum laude with highest honors in Biology, Harvard College, 1979
Honors & Awards
- Explorers Club Flag Award – Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31
- Member of the Year Award, Association of Unmanned Vehicles Systems International, 2011
- Outstanding Faculty Award, Commonwealth of Virginia, 2010
- Lockheed Martin Award for Excellence in Ocean Science & Engineering, 2008
- Antarctic Service Medal, National Science Foundation, 2006
- Phi Beta Kappa Award for the Advancement of Scholarship, 1996
Professional Affiliations
- Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Oceanic Engineering Society
- Marine Technology Society
- Editorial Board, Coral Reefs
- Salem Sound Coastwatch science advisory board
Research Overview
Development of autonomous underwater robots for civil infrastructure and marine sensing; decision support tools for gray/green infrastructure like tide gates; environmental fluid mechanics; biomechanics and mass transfer in living systems
Selected Research Projects
- Microplastics in Marine Food Webs
- – Co-Principal Investigator, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, Ocean Diagnostics LLC
- Tide Gate Modulation of Wetland Function: Decision Support Through Engineering Best Practices
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation Environmental Sustainability
Selected Publications
- S.D. Williams, M.R. Patterson, Resistance and Robustness of the Global Coral-Symbiont Network, Ecology, 101(5), 2020, e02990
- N. Relles, M. Patterson, D. Jones, Change Detection in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) over Three Decades on Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2018, 1-10
- A.C. Trembanis, A.L. Forrest, B.M. Keller, M.R. Patterson Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: A Geoacoustically Derived Proxy for Habitat and Relative Diversity for the Leeward Shelf of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean, Frontiers in Marine Science, 4(51), 2017
- R.H. Certner, A.M. Dwyer, M.R. Patterson, S.V. Vollmer Zooplankton as a Potential Vector for White Band Disease Transmission in the Endangered Coral, Acropora Cervicornis, Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences, 5, 2017, e3502
Sep 28, 2023
Developing a Robotic Aquaculture System
BioE/ECE Affiliated Faculty Joseph Ayers, MES/CEE Professor Mark Patterson, CEE Chair Jerome Hajjar, ECE Professor Milica Stojanovic, and CEE/MES Associate Professor Amy Mueller were awarded a patent for “Robotic aquaculture system and methods.”
May 22, 2023
Coming soon: A Co-op Experience Living Under the Ocean in the World’s Largest Undersea Science Station
MES/CEE Professor Mark Patterson and CEE Affiliated Faculty Brian Helmuth serve as chief science advisors for the Proteus project, which involves the development of an underwater habitat observatory and lab off the coast of Curacao to research marine science and train for extreme environments like outer space.
Jul 22, 2021
Patterson Receives Fulbright Award to Chart Kelp Forests
MES/CEE Professor Mark Patterson was selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award where he will be mapping uncharted kelp forests at the Université Laval in Quebec City.
Jul 24, 2017
Patterson, Fernandez, & Helmuth Awarded $300K NSF Grant
COS/CEE Professor Mark Patterson, CEE/COS Assistant Professor Loretta Fernandez, and CEE affiliated Professor Brian Helmuth were awarded a $300K NSF grant for "Tide gate modulation of wetland function: decision support through engineering best practices".
Jun 26, 2017
3D Printing in the Classroom
CAMD/COE Assistant Teaching Professor Mark Sivak and FYELC Associate Academic Specialist Jennifer Love demonstrated their use of 3D printing at TEXPO, Information Technology Services’ third annual Teaching and Technology Expo.
Mar 23, 2017
FY18 TIER 1 Award Recipients
21 COE faculty and affiliates were recipients of FY18 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 12 different projects representing $600K dollars of investment in research.
May 19, 2016
Inventing Marine Robots
Professors Hanumant Singh (ECE), Mark Patterson (CEE & MES), and Joseph Ayers (MES) are inventing new and improved robots to explore parts of the ocean that humans cannot.
Sep 24, 2015
Research Fair a Big Success
The COE Undergraduate Research Lab fair gathered hundreds of students eager to learn about the research opportunities available to them.
Jul 13, 2015
Attending Comic-Con to Raise Awareness
CEE & COS Professor Mark Patterson attended Comic-Con dressed as a Coral Polyp to raise awareness about the dangers of microplastics in the ocean.
May 19, 2015
Mark Patterson advances undersea monitoring
Mark Patterson, Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Understanding, predicting, and ultimately mitigating the impact of climate change on our urban coastlines requires close, continuous monitoring of earth’s oceans, as well as its atmosphere. But manned diving expeditions are expensive and limited in the amount of ocean area they […]