Harris Bienn joined The Water Institute in 2014 as a research intern in the Engineering Design and Innovation group. His focus has evolved broadly into the realm of geospatial analysis and geodata engineering. His ongoing research is focused on assessing the sociocultural and environmental impacts of habitat loss due to multidimensional stress, applying geostatistical and machine learning techniques to forecast riverine shoaling, developing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques to capture traditional ecological knowledge, and designing web GIS applications to support stakeholder engagement.

His academic interests include scientific information visualization, digital cartography, data science, and programming. His recent work at The Water Institute includes the identification of nature-based solutions for sustainable water resource management, application of participatory GIS to inform resilience assessment efforts in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast, and geostatistical assessment of the combined impacts of multiple hazards on vulnerable populations.

Prior to joining The Water Institute, Harris worked for the Jacobs Alliance Group at the ExxonMobil Chemical Plant doing process engineering preparations for turnaround projects. Harris spent four years in the United State Marine Corps as an enlisted infantryman and left the service in 2012.