Diego Morales
My name is Diego Morales and I’m a Marine Science Master’s student working in the COAST lab with Dr. Bresnahan beginning in the Spring of 2025. During my undergrad at the University of South Carolina, I did research on beach-dune systems through literature review, and I also did research on marine autonomous technology by creating an ASV capable of conducting unsupervised bathymetric surveys.
My passion for coding, the application of various sensors, and project development directly tie into what I’ll be doing in the COAST lab. There, I’ll be working on the continuing development of a low-cost multiparameter water sensor. I will also be acting as coordinator for the Participatory Ocean Color Networt, a program created for the collection of water quality and ocean color data through a network of stakeholders across the U.S. in order to better understand coastal regions. The program is meant to be a simpler and more accessible way to monitor these variables in areas where conditions change rapidly, so the use of a mini-secchi disk is key.