Albert E. Browder, Ph.D., P.E.

Principal / Vice-President

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Ph.D, 2000 Civil & Coastal Engineering, Univ. of Florida
M.C.E., 1994 Coastal & Oceanographic Engineering; Univ. of Florida
B.S., 1992 Mechanical Engineering; Clemson Univ.


Dr. Browder received his doctoral degree in Civil and Coastal Engineering, Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering Specialty, at the University of Florida. He also earned a Master of Engineering Degree in the same program, and a Bachelor of Science degree with highest honors in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University. As a Senior Engineer, he performs a wide range of design, research, permitting, and field data collection projects relating to all aspects of coastal engineering and shoreline protection efforts.

Since joining Olsen Associates, Inc. in 1995, Dr. Browder’s experience includes extensive beach nourishment and coastal structure design, post-storm damage assessments and subsequent shoreline restoration, marina design and permitting, numerical modeling of coastal littoral transport and ocean wave propagation, estuarine and hydraulic modeling, prediction of coastal shoreline change, storm damage modeling, development of shoreline protection alternatives, monitoring of coastal protection projects, and coastal permitting.

Dr. Browder has been the engineer for numerous publicly-funded large-scale beach restoration projects in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. As principal investigator and consultant to the Santa Rosa Island Authority, he designed and permitted the initial restoration of Pensacola Beach, FL in 2002-2003. Following the devastating 2004/2005 hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico, he served as the engineer for the post-Hurricane Ivan beach renourishment project at Pensacola Beach. Dr. Browder designed and permitted the 15.3-mile 2005-2006 Orange Beach/Gulf State Park/Gulf Shores Beach Restoration Project in Baldwin County, AL, which was designated in 2006 as a Top Restored Beach by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. As part of the restoration efforts in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama, Dr. Browder has assisted numerous local and County governments in obtaining Federal and State post-disaster funding assistance to rebuild the beaches in the area. Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Browder provided coastal engineering consulting services to these communities for oil spill response activities. In addition to public project work, Dr. Browder has completed numerous domestic and Caribbean private-sector shorefront projects.

At the University of Florida, Dr. Browder completed a wide range of numerical, laboratory, and field projects ranging from the development of inlet management practices to the creation of numerical models to investigate nearshore and wave hydrodynamics, including investigations of fine sediment dredge disposal and movement, migration of tidal inlets, and the behavior of submerged coastal breakwaters. Field and laboratory experience include the monitoring and evaluation of coastal structures and the study of nearshore hydrodynamics. Field experience includes over 100 hours of underwater equipment installation and data collection and an extensive amount of beach and hydrographic survey time.

Dr. Browder has authored several refereed papers in coastal processes in addition to refereeing papers for publication, and has presented numerous technical papers at professional conferences. Dr. Browder is an inaugural-class Diplomate of Coastal Engineering of the Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port, and Navigation Engineers, and is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the States of Florida and Alabama.