Bryant Irawan

I earned my BA in Human Biology from Stanford (2015) and a Doctorate of Dental Surgery from UC San Francisco (2019). Still a licensed California dentist, my love for the ocean has always been a driving force in my life.

My earliest memory is crying myself to the verge of vomiting because I didn’t want to leave the beach after seeing it for the first time.

In college, I was drawn to marine biology, studying at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey and participating in two ocean conservation study-abroad programs: coral farming at Australia's Heron Island and oceanographic sampling on a 2,500-nautical-mile voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii.

During dental school, my passion for the ocean remained strong. I volunteered at beach cleanups and learned to surf. After graduating, I practiced dentistry in my favorite surf city—Santa Cruz—which has since become my beloved hometown.

After years of lunch breaks spent staring longingly at the ocean, I decided to pursue a career in ocean conservation. I chose software engineering for its versatility and took night classes, eventually quitting my job to study coding full-time in an immersive advanced bootcamp called HackReactor.

After gaining experience at a health-tech startup, I began applying my software skills to ocean conservation, developing mobile apps and deploying autonomous monitoring systems to protect MPAs. With this grant, I hope to make these systems more affordable and effective by integrating a lower-cost camera and developing a Loitering Guard feature to detect and monitor potential shoreline violators.

Outside of work, I express my love for the ocean as an avid scuba diver and sailor. During one sailing expedition across the Atlantic, I recorded the northernmost observation of pygmy killer whales.

November 2024