Florida International University Search May 25, 2021 at 10:35am Each spring, Dr. Beach does what he’s done for the past 30 years. He pores over data and photographs to produce his much-anticipated America’s Stephen Leatherman didn’t set out to refashion tourism or become a hit with the media or even land himself on the Oprah Winfrey Show. His only goal was to promote and protect healthy, safe, good quality, family-friendly beaches. The FIU coastal scientist and professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and the Institute of Environment actually became Dr. Beach long before his annual rankings of beaches.