Marine Studies dean named to NOAA advisory board

Carolyn Thoroughgood

12:09 p.m., Aug. 9, 2004--Carolyn Thoroughgood, dean of UD’s College of Marine Studies and director of the Delaware Sea Grant College Program, has been appointed to the Science Advisory Board of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The board’s membership is composed of 15 preeminent scientists, engineers, educators and science policy experts from across the United States.

Based in the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA is responsible for predicting changes in the Earth’s environment and conserving and managing coastal and marine resources to meet the nation’s economic, social and environmental needs. The agency includes the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

The Science Advisory Board is responsible for advising NOAA’s leadership on long- and short-range strategies for research, education and the application of science to environmental assessment and prediction.

In his official letter of invitation, Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, noted that the board’s “activities and advice provide necessary input to ensure NOAA science programs are the highest quality and provide optimal support to resource management.”

Thoroughgood joined the UD faculty in 1968 as a nutritional biochemist and has been both the dean of Marine Studies and Sea Grant director since 1984. In addition to her academic and administrative duties on campus, she serves on numerous science councils, associations and professional societies at the state to national levels.

She helped organize the Council on Ocean Affairs, a national organization of marine academic institutions that evolved into the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education. She recently completed her second term as chair of the consortium’s board of governors.

Thoroughgood also is the principal investigator on a recently funded proposal to create the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Observing System. This regional network will be part of a national marine forecasting system for phenomena ranging from coastal storms to harmful algal blooms.

A native of Easton, Md., Thoroughgood resides in Greenville.

Photo by Floyd Dean

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