03-07-02

By Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788
SOURCE: Rich Holdren, 541-737-0663

NEWPORT, Ore. - George W. Boehlert, director of one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's leading research laboratories, has been named director of Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

George W. Boehlert Click on image to go to downloadable photo

Boehlert, who will begin his duties this July 1, succeeds Lavern Weber, who retired after 25 years as center director.

Appointing a nationally recognized scientist and top administrator to the position was critical, according to Rich Holdren, OSU vice provost for research, because the OSU center is one of the leading marine research facilities on the West Coast.

"OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center is large, complex, and absolutely vital in supporting state and federal marine research programs," Holdren said. "It also serves as a unique laboratory for university students and faculty, and the public wing is a focal point for elementary and secondary education, as well as for area tourism.

"It is, without exaggeration, a world class facility," Holdren added. "We have great expectations for even more impact and importance of the center in the future under George Boehlert's leadership. He has just the type of experience and vision to continue and expand the success of the center."

For the last eight years, Boehlert has directed NOAA's Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory in Monterey, Calif. The lab plays a key role in helping scientists better understand the role of the environment in fluctuations of marine resources and changes in marine ecosystems.

Boehlert has published more than 80 scientific papers. His research has focused on fisheries oceanography, impacts of fishing on marine ecosystems, ocean survival of Pacific salmon, fish reproduction, and larval fish ecology.

"The Hatfield Marine Science Center is one of the best marine laboratories in the nation to lead and develop cooperative research and education programs involving academic, state and federal groups," Boehlert said. "Oregon State University has great breadth in marine science - including marine biology, oceanography, fisheries and resource economics.

"Along with its state and federal partners in Newport, it is poised to help find solutions to pressing problems in the marine environment, as well as to train students to continue this work in the future," he added.

A 1972 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Boehlert went on to earn his Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego. He joined the OSU faculty as an assistant professor in 1979, where he remained for four years before joining NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory in Honolulu.

He spent 10 years in Hawaii, the last five as director of the laboratory and also serving on the graduate faculty of the University of Hawaii. In 1993, he moved to his current position in Monterey.

As director of OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center, Boehlert will provide direction for the center's research, academic and outreach programs. The 49-acre facility on Yaquina Bay in Newport is the largest marine laboratory in Oregon and one of the largest on the West Coast, boasting more than 300 university, state and federal employees, and more than $24 million in annual budget and grants.

The facility houses not only OSU scientists and educators, it is the home for researchers from NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The center also is a staging port for deep-water oceanographic research vessels, and serves as the home base for the Wecoma and Elakha, OSU's two primary research ships.

More than 175,000 people visit the center each year, and some 12,000 primary and secondary students take part in its marine education programs. The center also is home to several OSU undergraduate and graduate programs in marine science.

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