CONTACT:  Patricia Viets               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                       5/20/97

Michael L. Van Woert of Vienna has been named chief of a major research division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Van Woert is chief of NOAA's Oceanic Research and Applications Division, where he manages programs in ocean research and marine optics. The division is part of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service based in Suitland, Md.

Van Woert came to NOAA from the Office of Naval Research, where he managed a program in Arctic research. Before that he managed NASA's physical oceanography program as a visiting senior scientist. Before coming to the Washington, D.C., area, Van Woert spent 10 years in industry developing commercial applications of ocean remote sensing.

Van Woert is a 1976 graduate of the University of California, Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He has published numerous journal articles and is a member of: The Oceanography Society, American Geophysical Union, and the American Meteorological Society.

Van Woert lives in Vienna, Va., with his wife Noelle.