From OSU News:

Kelly Benoit-Bird, a pioneering young oceanographer from Oregon State University, has been selected as one of 23 recipients nationwide of prestigious 2010 MacArthur Fellowships.

Popularly called “Genius Awards,” the fellowships include a $500,000 stipend to further the recipient’s scholarship. They are presented annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Benoit-Bird, 34, studies the interrelationships of animals in different marine environments, using acoustics and other sophisticated technologies. Her innovative uses of sonar in tracking marine creatures from Humboldt squid to spinner dolphins have led to new discoveries about their feeding behavior, movements and even communication….Benoit-Bird is the second Oregon State University marine scientist to have received a MacArthur award. In 1993, Jane Lubchenco, a professor of zoology and now NOAA Administrator, also was honored.

Along with oceanography, Oregon State offers programs in the areas of zoology, biology with a marine biology emphasis, fisheries and wildlife science, and such research facilities as the Hatfield Marine Science Center and the Marine Mammal Institute.

Congrats, Kelly!
-bv

Washington Post-

Lubchenco Will Helm National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

By Juliet Eilperin
President-elect Barack Obama has tapped Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco, one of the nation’s most prominent marine biologists, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lubchenco, a conservationist who has devoted much of her career to encouraging scientists to become more engaged in public policy debates, is also a vocal proponent of curbing greenhouse gases linked to global warming. The transition team could not be reached for comment, but several sources confirmed today that Lubchenco had been picked and was headed to Chicago for the upcoming announcement.

The appointment marks a shift for NOAA, which oversees marine issues as well as much of government’s climate work. Lubchenco has criticized the agency in the past for not doing enough to curb overfishing.

Andrew Rosenberg, who served as deputy director of NOAA’s Fisheries Service under Clinton and is now University of New Hampshire professor of natural resources and the environment, praised Lubchenco as an “absolutely world class scientist.”

“When has NOAA been headed by a member of the National Academy and a fellow of the Royal Society?” he said, referring to America and Britain’s most prestigious scientific societies. “That’s exactly the right signal. It establishes NOAA as one of those key scientific agencies.”

By selecting someone who’s both a respected researcher and an active player in national policy discussions, Rosenberg added, “it’s saying that science agencies have a role in policy. They need to be tightly connected, and I believe they will be tightly connected under Jane.”

Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology Distinguished Professor of Zoology, Oregon State University

We have long marveled at the passion and conviction Dr. Lubchenco brings to her role at OSU and in bringing to light the effects of global warming. Her accolades have been well deserved, but she also is one of those professors that enjoys teaching and working alongside her students. Congratulations to you, Dr. Lubchenco!

One of the faces of OSU

From her bio:

Jane leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists who study the marine ecosystem off the west coast of the U.S. This PISCO team is learning how the ecosystem works, how it is changing and how humans can modify their actions to ensure continued benefit from ocean ecosystems.

Jane actively promotes science and communicates scientific knowledge in international and national arenas. She is Past-President of the International Council for Science and a former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Ecological Society of America. She was a Presidential appointee to two terms on the National Science Board which advises the President and Congress and oversees the National Science Foundation. She often testifies before Congress, addresses the United Nations, or provides scientific advice to the White House, federal and international agencies, non-governmental organizations, religious leaders and leaders of business and industry. She co-chaired Oregon Governor Kulongoski’s Advisory Group on Global Warming that recommended actions the state should take to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Jane founded the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program that teaches outstanding academic environmental scientists to be effective leaders and communicators of scientific information to the public, policy makers, the media and the private sector. She currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board.

She participated actively in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a 5-year, international scientific assessment of the consequences of environmental changes to human well-being. Among other things, she co-chaired the MA’s Synthesis for Business and Industry.

Jane is a Founding Principal of COMPASS, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, a collaboration among academic scientists, communication and media specialists that communicates academic marine conservation science to policy makers, the media, managers and the public.

Her scientific contributions in ecology are widely recognized. 8 of her publications are “Science Citation Classics”; she is one of the “most highly cited” ecologists in the world (top 0.5%). She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Royal Society, and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.

She served on the Pew Oceans Commission and now the Joint Oceans Commission Initiative (a merger of the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy). She is a Director or Trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, SeaWeb and Environmental Defense; Trustee Emerita of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and a former Trustee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Beijer International Institute for Ecological Economics and the World Resources Institute.

Jane has received numerous awards including a MacArthur (“genius”) Fellowship, a Pew Fellowship, eight honorary degrees (including one from Princeton University), the 2002 Heinz Award in the Environment, the 2003 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, the 2004 Environmental Law Institute Award (the first scientist to receive this honor) and the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology.

Pretty impressive!
-bv

Enjoy!

In the video below you’ll hear Terri talk about how the agreement furthers the efforts for conservation and how it helps support the work of the OSU institute to gather critical data on endangered and threatened marine mammal species.

I also got some footage of Terri, Bindi, and Bobby after the event.

James will have more complete coverage posted soon.

–mko

You may remember my previous blog posting on Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, and her family helping with whale research at OSU (“Crocodile Hunter Widow Terri Irwin to Launch Whale Research at OSU”). This week, the Irwin family is expected to be at Oregon State University to announce a donation for two humpback whale research projects for Oregon State’s Marine Mammal Institute that will gather information on the marine mammal species. I read in a report from the Oregonian that ‘research teams will head to Alaska and the American Samoas to study humpback whale breeding, foraging, migration and stock identification.’ Exciting stuff!

Terri Irwin, a Eugene native, and her family are well-known and respected animal wildlife conservationists. A huge thanks goes out to them for their support! Here’s a photo of Terri and her children Bindi and Bob:

Be sure to read the previous blog postings on OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute and the marine biology program.

–mko

Terri Irwin, the widow of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, announced plans to Australian journalists to donate over $1 million to tag, track and research endangered whales through new studies scheduled to begin this year. Irwin states, “We are working with Oregon State University to do formalized research in the southern hemisphere … We can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research.” Irwin has been a vocal opponent of Japan’s harvesting of whales for scientific data. Here’s an exerpt from the salem-news.com:

The Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University will begin studies in 2008 in both the southern and northern hemispheres on a variety of whale species to improve information on their habitats and stock identity, which could eliminate the need for killing whales solely for gathering research data.

Funding for the project, which will use high-tech, non-lethal methods, will be provided primarily through grants from Terri Irwin, wife of internationally recognized wildlife advocate Steve Irwin (the “Crocodile Hunter�).

Japan has been a focal point in recent years for harvesting whales for scientific purposes – a practice that has put the country at odds with many in the scientific community and the public at-large.

The Japanese whaling fleet had planned to kill up to 50 endangered humpback whales this year, but in the wake of international protests, officials there announced they would suspend their harvest of humpback whales, but will continue with plans to kill 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

Both humpback and fin whales are listed on the Endangered Species List in the United States, and considered “vulnerable� in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Redbook.

Irwin’s daughter Bindi also plans to record a new anti-whaling song, “Save Me,” and publicize it in Asia in a bid to raise awareness of the issue.

Be sure to read the previous blog postings on OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute and the marine biology program . Hats off to the Irwins for their awareness, efforts, and generosity. Here’s a photo of Bindi, Terri and son Bobby:

–mko