Dr. Bean is an associate professor and extension specialist in urban water resources engineering and is a member of the Sustainability Human and Ecological Development group. He specializes in stormwater management, water quantity and quality issues, low impact development (LID), and sustainable urban development to reduce nonpoint source pollution and is a licensed professional engineer.

Dr. Bean received his B.S. in Biological Engineering from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2003 with a concentration in Environmental Engineering. He continued his education at NCSU, completing his M.S. degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 2005, while focusing his research on permeable pavements. Dr. Bean received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Florida in 2010, where he focused on amendments for mitigating soil compaction and evaluation of infiltration basin designs for stormwater management.

Dr. Bean’s integrated research and extension program focuses on urban water resources engineering, with special emphasis on stormwater management, irrigation conservation, and low-cost sensors. He is a leader in sustainable stormwater management in Florida, frequently speaking at workshops on low-impact development (LID) and green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and works closely with state and local agencies on addressing these issues. Dr. Bean’s program also seeks to improve landscape irrigation conservation by enhancing soil quality through compost amendments. As part of this focus area, he frequently collaborates with faculty from across IFAS, water management districts, and industry stakeholders, including developers, utilities, and landscape managers. Dr. Bean has also led development of the GatorByte platform, which seeks to provide low-cost monitoring solutions to water resource managers by combining IoT and smart technologies, with low-cost water quality sensors, GPS, open-source hardwater and software, and 3d printing to provide actionable information to users.