Dr. Patrick S. “Shea” Penland, one of Louisiana's leading coastal scientists and director of The University of New Orleans Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences, was found dead Tuesday. He was 54.

Penland, a coastal geomorphologist, spent more than two decades investigating the geology, geomorphology and shoreline processes of the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the Great Lakes, Canada and the North Sea.

The goal of his research was to explain the geological evolution of coastal regions and man's role in modifying these landforms.

At the time of his death, Penland was completing a study titled “Natural and Human Causes of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana: The Mississippi River Delta Plain.”

Since 1979, Penland published more than 100 scientific papers, received several science awards, conducted more than 30 field trips and chaired more than 30 scientific meeting sessions on coastal geomorphology and processes.

In 1995, Penland delivered the keynote symposium lecture for the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America titled “The Mississippi River - Control and Consequences.”

Penland earned a doctorate and masters in coastal geomorphology from LSU and a bachelor's in physical geography from Jacksonville University.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy Norman, a daughter, Kelsey, a son, Perry, and a stepdaughter, Caitlin.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete..