Whitledge to lead UAF Institute of Marine Science

Submitted by Carin Bailey
Phone: (907) 474-7208
06/07/06

Fairbanks, Alaska--The University of Alaska Fairbanks has named Terry Whitledge to a permanent position as director of the UAF Institute of Marine Science.

Whitledge will oversee 20 academic and research faculty and 50 graduate students engaged in marine biology and oceanography throughout the sub-Arctic, Arctic and Antarctic. Scientists within the institute, which is part of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, secure about $5.5 million each year in research funding, with the majority coming from federal sources. Whitledge hopes to help those numbers grow.

"I am excited about the opportunity to expand the institute," he said. "Our critical mass is down. Recruiting new faculty is my top priority."

Another of Whitledge’s top priorities is to bring the nation’s first university-based ice-capable research ship to UAF. Whitledge has been instrumental in designing the Alaska Region Research Vessel and anticipates federal funding of the $98 million craft this year.

Whitledge has served as interim director of the institute for the past eight months. Prior to that, he was a professor of chemical oceanography at the institute and an affiliate faculty member at the UAF International Arctic Research Center. He replaces Mike Castellini, who was promoted last year to associate dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Before joining UAF in 1998, Whitledge was acting director of the Marine Science Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a doctorate in oceanography from the University of Washington. Trained as a chemist and oceanographer, Whitledge is an expert in the nutrient chemistry of seawater and the interaction of biological populations with the chemical and physical dynamics in marine ecosystems.

CONTACT: Terry Whitledge, director, Institute of Marine Science, at (907) 474-7229 or via e-mail at whitledge@ims.uaf.edu. Carin Bailey, SFOS public information officer, at (907) 474-7208 or via e-mail at bailey@sfos.uaf.edu.

ON THE WEB: www.sfos.uaf.edu/news/story/?ni=170