Orrin H. Pilkey

Orrin Pilkey is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He is a marine and coastal geologist, specializing in the study of barrier islands and the impact of humans on our shorelines. At the start of his career, he was a specialist in the deep sea sedimentology of abyssal plains. When his parents lost their house in Waveland, Mississippi, during Hurricane Camille (1969), he was inspired to come into shallower waters and study coastal geology.

He is the author or co-editor of 40 books, including recent ones on the problems with mathematical models (Useless Arithmetic, Columbia), the Corps of Engineers (The Corps and the Shore, Island), a handbook for beach observation (How to Read a North Carolina Beach, UNC), barrier islands (A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands, Columbia) and most recently, sea level rise (The Rising Sea, Island). He is also the co-editor with Bill Neal of the Living with the Shore state-specific coastal hazard series (Duke Press). In addition, he has written 250 technical publications. He has received a number of awards including the Shepherd Award for excellence in Marine Geology, the Priestley Award, and Public Service awards from several geologic societies.