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Dr. Mark R. Abbott
Ecology
B.S., University of California, Berkley, 1974
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1978 |
Mark R. Abbott is Dean and Professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
at Oregon State University (OSU). He received his B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources
from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Ecology from the
University of California, Davis, in 1978. He has been at OSU since 1988 and has been Dean of
the College since 2001. Prior to coming to OSU, he was a member of the technical staff at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a research oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
He is an Associate Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Abbott’s research focuses on the interaction of biological and physical processes in the
upper ocean and relies on both remote sensing and field observations. Abbott is a pioneer in the
use of satellite ocean color data to study coupled physical/biological processes. He advocated
the inclusion of chlorophyll fluorescence bands in MODIS (the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer on EOS Terra) and developed next-generation ocean primary productivity
algorithms that used chlorophyll fluorescence data to estimate the physiological health of upper
ocean phytoplankton. As part of a NASA Earth Observing System interdisciplinary science team,
Abbott led an effort to link remotely-sensed data of the Southern Ocean with coupled ocean
circulation/ecosystem models. His field research included the first deployment of an array
of bio-optical moorings in the Southern Ocean as part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux
Study. He deployed bio-optical drifters in both the California Current and in the Antarctic
Circumpolar Current to study the impacts of mesoscale ocean circulation on ocean primary
productivity.
He has advised the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation on ocean
information infrastructure. Abbott organized a series of workshops for NASA, bringing leaders
in computer science from industry and academia together with Earth scientists. He recently
convened an NSF workshop on trends in information technology and their application to ocean
sciences. He is a co-investigator on an NSF Information Technology Research grant focusing on
cyberinfrastructure for ocean observatories.
Abbott chaired the Committee on Earth Studies (CES) for the National Academy of Sciences.
While chair of CES, he oversaw the production of three reports on the National Polar-orbiting
Operation Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), including one focusing climate data services
in support of NPOESS. He was a member of the NRC Committee on NASA/NOAA Transition from
Research to Operations, and he is a member of the Panel on Land-use Change, Ecosystem Dynamics
and Biodiversity which is part of the NRC Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from
Space. Abbott also co-chaired NOAA’s Climate Monitoring Working Group, and he is presently
chair of the Coastal Ocean Applications and Science Team for NOAA. He was chairman of the
U.S. Joint Global Flux Study Science Steering Committee. He chairs the Board of Governors
for the Consortium for Ocean Research and Education and is a member of the Board of Governors
for Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. He is a member of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Advisory Council. Abbott was recently selected by the governor of Oregon to co-chair the
Climate Change Integration Group which is examining mitigation and adaptation strategies in
response to climate change for both government and business.
He was appointed to the National Science Board in 2006.
August 2006
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