U.S. National Committee
Purpose
The U.S. National Committee (USNC) is comprised of a broad range of individuals from research institutions, industry, resource management, non-governmental organizations, and other ocean stakeholders. Efforts of the committee members focus on raising awareness of the need for basic research on marine biodiversity, advocating for the priorities of the U.S. research and education communities, securing funding commitments from public and private sources, coordinating U.S. contributions to the global CoML initiative, and continuing the Census of Marine Life program through the next decade.
The USNC views its purpose as facilitator of the establishment and implementation of long-term research program on marine biodiversity that supports the needs of a diverse U.S. ocean community.
Current membership: (as of April 2008)
Ex-Officio
Ms. Nina Young, Marine Mammal Commission, Bethesda, MD
Biographies
Current Members
Dr. Vera Alexander has recently stepped down from the position of Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and now serves as Assistant to the Provost for Fisheries and Oceans Policy. She also serves as Director of the MMS/UAF Coastal Marine Institute and the UAF Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center, supported by the Pollock Conservation Cooperative. She is also a professor of Marine Science at UAF. Her research in Arctic limnology and biological oceanography has included fieldwork in the Arctic, Antarctic, northern Canada (Ellesmere Island and Devon Island) and Finnish Lapland. She has been visiting Professor at the National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, and at the University of Turku, Finland. She holds many leadership positions in the ocean and Arctic science community, such as a US Marine Mammal Commissioner, Chairman of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and President of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS). Dr. Alexander has authored or coauthored over 70 papers published in the refereed literature. Honors include election as Fellow of the AAAS, of the Arctic Institute of North America, and also the Explorers Club. She received an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from Hokkaido University in recognition of her work in promoting international scientific cooperation.
Dr. Judith Connor is the Director of Information and Technology Dissemination Division at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and is responsible for the external affairs activities at MBARI. Connor earned her Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley with dissertation research conducted at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá. She has participated in research and educational expeditions to the eastern and western Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Aegean Seas, as well as New Zealand, Fiji, Africa and the Canary Islands, Hawai'i and Monterey Bay.
Ms. Penelope Dalton directs the Washington Sea Grant Program that has supported Pacific Northwest communities and industries for more than 35 years through marine research, education, and outreach. Previously, Dalton was Vice President of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education where she was involved in efforts to strengthen ocean science and policy, including implementation of the recommendations of the U.S. Ocean Commission. Prior to CORE, she served as NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries and head of the National Marine Fisheries Service. From 1985 through 1999, Dalton was a staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and directed the Democratic staff of the Oceans and Fisheries subcommittee and Science, Technology, and Space subcommittee. She was involved in enactment and reauthorization of numerous science and ocean laws, such as the Sustainable Fisheries Act, the Global Change Research Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Oceans Act of 2000.
Dr. Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, marine botanist, ecologist and the author of five books. A pioneering aquanaut and marine explorer, Dr. Earle has held the women’s depth record for solo diving and logged more than 6,000 hours underwater. She was the Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and currently serves as Executive Director for Marine Conservation at Conservation International, Chairman of Deep Ocean Exploration & Research, Inc. (DOER) and Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society.
Dr. Daphne Fautin (Former Chair) is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. She also serves as Curator of the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center at the university. Dr. Fautin is an expert on sea anemones and corals and has been deeply involved in planning for the Census, particularly in the development of an Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). She has agreed to serve as the initial chair of the Committee.
Dr. Daniel Finamore is a marine archaeologist and the Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. He is an author and the arts editor for The American Neptune, a quarterly journal of maritime history and arts, as well as a director of the Council of American Maritime Museums.
Mr. Terry Garcia is Executive Vice President for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society, the world’s largest scientific and educational institution with nearly 10 million members. He is responsible for the Society’s core mission programs, including the Committee for Research and Exploration, the Geographic Education Outreach Program and the $100 million Education Foundation. Following time practicing law, Mr. Garcia served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere where he directed and coordinated NOAA’s coastal, ocean and atmospheric programs. He currently serves on the National Research Council panel on ocean exploration.
Dr. Pat Halpin is currently the Gabel Associate Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, where he direct the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab. Dr. Halpin’s research interests include the application of GIS and spatial analyses to environmental problems in terrestrial and marine research and management. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the OBIS-SEAMAP project under the Census of Marine Life and also serves as the Chair of the Technical Committee for the OBIS project. Dr. Halpin earned his Master’s degrees in International Studies and International Development from George Mason University and his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia.
Mr. Paul Kelly is an Energy and Ocean Policy Consultant. Formally Senior Vice President of Rowan Companies, Inc., he was responsible for special projects and government and industry affairs and was selected to serve on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Mr. Kelly holds a B.A. (Political Science) degree from Yale University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School and has represented the oil service/supply industry on the U.S. Secretary of Interior’s Outer Continental Shelf Policy Committee during the past four administrations. He has also served as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee (NOSAC), appeared on behalf of industry in numerous congressional and federal agency hearings dealing with offshore oil and gas issues. Mr. Kelly, up until recently, also served on the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel (ORRAP) under the National Ocean Partnership Program.
Dr. Judith Kildow, Director and PI for the National Ocean Economics Program, is the first Social Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California in January effective 2007. Her mission is to carry forward her ocean economics program, build a solid social science foundation, and to add and integrate marine policy and coastal and ocean economics to the marine science and engineering research at MBARI. She remains adjunct professor at CSUMB in the Division of Science and Environmental Policy, where she was the James W. Rote Distinguished Professor of Science and Environmental Policy for the period 2003-2006. Prior to her appointment in 2003, she served as a faculty member in the MIT Department of Ocean Engineering for 26 years where she taught and did research on coastal and ocean management issues. She was also a member of the Research Faculty at both the University of Southern California Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, and the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics and The Rubenstein School of Environmental and Natural Resources at The University of Vermont. She remains a visiting Fellow at the Gund Institute. She has served on numerous federal and state commissions, National Academy of Sciences panels, and boards of directors. She has published and lectured widely on coastal and ocean economics and management. She received her Ph.D. in International Relations and Science Policy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and her BA degree from Grinnell College.
Dr. Jo-Ann Leong is the Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture. Dr. Leong has a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and completed her doctoral thesis work at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco on retroviruses and reverse transcriptase. Dr. Leong's postdoctoral training was completed in Biochemistry at the UCSF, prior to accepting a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Oregon State University. Dr. Leong has spent much of her career studying an infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in salmon, developing vaccines for salmon, and using molecular tools to understand the immune response in fish.
Dr. Clarence Pautzke is the Executive Director of the North Pacific Research Board, a legislatively established group that directs research on the North Pacific, Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean ecosystems. He directed the staff of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for more than two decades and headed regulatory programs at the National Marine Fisheries Service. Dr. Pautzke is a biological oceanographer who retired from the U.S. Navy in 1992.
Dr. Shirley Pomponi is President and Chief Executive Officer at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. A biological oceanographer, she is an expert on marine sponges and her research has focused on development of methods for sustainable use of marine resources for drug discovery and development. Dr. Pomponi has led numerous research expeditions and served on the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration. She currently is a member of National Research Council panel on marine biotechnology and on ocean exploration.
Dr. Andrew Rosenberg (Chair) is a Professor in the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire. His prior activities include serving as Dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire, member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Deputy Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as the Northeast Regional Administrator for NMFS for four years. Dr. Rosenberg has also served as the U.S. representative to international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.
Dr. Paul Sandifer is now Senior Scientist for Coastal Ecology for NOAA’s National Ocean Service, with scientific and programmatic responsibility for the NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative. Previously, he worked as the Director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. He spent many years in the Marine Resources Division, where he was responsible for management and conservation of state marine fisheries, applied research in fisheries and aquaculture, coastal environmental matters and coastal aquaculture. Dr. Sandifer also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. He is located at the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, SC.
Dr. George Sedberry is the Superintendent of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary in Savannah, GA. He was formerly the Senior Marine Scientist and Assistant Director at the Marine Resources Research Institute, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in Charleston. His research interests are in the biology, conservation and management of reef fishes and highly migratory oceanic fishes, as well as deep-sea biology and coral-reef ecology. He serves on the Marine Protected Areas Advisory Panel and the Snapper/Grouper Assessment Panel of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and is on the board of the Southeast Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence. He has authored over 80 scientific publications on marine fishes and ecosystems.
Dr. John W. "Wes" Tunnell, Jr., is the Associate Director for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. He is also the Director of the Center for Coastal Studies and a Professor of Biology at TAMU-CC. Dr. Tunnel is a marine biologist who has conducted Gulf of Mexico research in many areas, including fossilized vertebrates from the seabed, colonial nesting seabirds, molluscan ecology, coastal community ecology, and oil spill impacts for over 30 years, but he has specialized in coral reef ecology. He has produced numerous Gulf of Mexico graduate scientists and many publications, including co-author of two books, and he has several other books on Gulf of Mexico biota and ecology in preparation.
Dr. Mark Fornwall is with the United States Geological Survey and serves as Director of the Center for Biological Informatics. He is leading the development of the National Biological Information Infrastructure’s marine theme and manager of the US Regional Node of the global Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). Dr. Fornwall also serves as OBIS representative to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Nodes Committee.
Former Members
Dr. Simon Evans (alternate Dan Zimble), ESRI, Redlands, CA
Mr. Tom Fry, National Ocean Industries Association, Washington, DC
Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, LaJolla, CA
Dr. Michael Roman, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Dr. Jerry Schubel, The Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA
Mr. Bill Shedd, AFTCO Manufacturing Company, Irvine, CA
Ms. Margaret Spring, The Nature Conservancy, Monterey, CA
