It is my pleasure to join the faculty at USF College of Marine Science (CMS) as their new Dean.  I am fortunate to be taking the reins from former Dean Hogarth.  I’m grateful that he is just moving to the next building and that I will be able to count on him in his new role as director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO).

Located on the spectacularly beautiful waterfront of Tampa Bay adjacent to the USF St. Petersburg campus, CMS is administratively a part of the doctoral degree granting USF Tampa campus.  The College is focused on interdisciplinary research in marine science.  Graduate student education, ocean sensor development and educational outreach to society at large are also integral to the college’s mission.  Our 30 ranked faculty, 112 support personnel and roughly 100 graduate students work together toward a vision of understanding the unified global ocean system.  The College seeks to build new interdisciplinary research teams in collaboration with our local marine science research partners, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the U.S. Geological Survey, NOAA, SRI St. Petersburg, and Mote Marine Lab.

In the last year, the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe raised public visibility of the college, highlighting the importance of its highly respected research and education programs to Florida and the national economy.  When disaster struck, the physical and intellectual infrastructure necessary to respond quickly was already in place at CMS.  Our faculty were at the forefront striving to answer critical questions concerning the amount and projected path of the oil, and its long term impact on our beaches, fisheries and coastal ecosystems.  In particular, I would like to recognize our faculty’s work in three main areas: 1) ocean surface modeling and prediction of location of surface oil in 4D (Bob Weisberg, Chuanmin Hu, Frank Müller-Karger); 2) detection of oil in the subsurface (David Hollander, Ernst Peebles, Paula Coble); and 3) toxicity and ecosystem impacts (Jose Torres, John Paul).  Others who stepped up to play important supporting roles include David Jones, Ethan Goddard, David Naar, Brian Donahue, David English, Kendra Daly, Ben Flower and the COT Glider Group headed up by Chad Lemke.  Finally, I commend former Dean Hogarth for his leadership of FIO and college efforts during the crisis.  The ability to respond quickly and effectively, as well as the availability of many baseline biological, chemical, and physical oceanographic data, critical for change assessment, was made possible by previous investments by the administration of USF, and the Board of Governors.  The crisis also made clear where additional investments will be necessary to properly monitor and understand the long term impacts of the spill.

The state and the nation face many more challenges, of equal or even greater magnitude than the Deepwater Horizon, though perhaps less newsworthy.  We need to be able to predict the timing and effects of our changing climate, particularly sea level rise.  This issue impacts Florida more than any other state as there is almost no aspect of Florida’s economy that is not touched by its relationship with the sea.  The research of our faculty, staff, and graduate students addresses a myriad of relevant societal issues such as overfishing, coastal erosion, red tides, ocean noise, dying coral reefs, hurricane predictions, ocean acidification, and drought.

We have been able to expand our faculty in the last year.  I would also like to officially welcome Dr. Steve Murawski, as the first holder of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership Peter R. Betzer Endowed Chair.  I look forward to collaboration with Steve and his remarkable talents going forward.  We also have two new biological oceanographers joining us soon, Cameron Ainsworth and Chris Stallings, as well as two searches underway.

In addition to research and graduate education, I am very proud of our outreach activities, coordinated by Teresa Greely.  Please take the time to explore our website to find our more about our Oceanography Camp for Girls, In-TOW workshops for teachers, the Spoonbill Bowl for high school students, and the GK-12 Oceans fellowships for graduate students that pairs them with a middle school teacher for a year.  Many of you in the St. Petersburg community have been extremely generous with your support.  I look forward to working with many of you to expand our outreach offerings.

It is great to be a part of the USF family!

Dean Jackie Dixon

Jacqueline E. Dixon
Dean, College of Marine Science
(727) 553-3369