Program Assessment Team Members
(in alphabetical order)
Ronald C. Baird
Past
Director, National Sea Grant College Program;
Research Professor, Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Ronald C. Baird is research professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science. He previously served as director of the National Sea Grant College Program and the associate director for Ocean Research within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA’s principal line office for research.
As Sea Grant’s director, Dr. Baird managed a national network of over 200 institutions and over 3,000 individuals that engage in scientific research, education, and extension activities in every coastal and Great Lakes state. As OAR’s ocean research director, he coordinated the aquatic research efforts of 12 federal laboratories and major extramural programs such as the National Undersea Research Program. Dr. Baird also has served as the United States’ marine resources co-chair for the U.S.–Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources and has helped initiate the international Sea Grant network. He also co-chaired the subcommittee of the CENR/COS Joint Subcommittee on Oceans (JSO) of the National Science and Technology Council that helped craft the Administration’s response to the U.S. Committee on Ocean Policy Report.
Dr. Baird brings a background in science, business, and academic administration to his position at UNCW. He holds a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from Harvard University, an M.A. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in zoology from Yale University.
Prior to joining NOAA, Dr. Baird served as vice president of university relations and director of corporate relations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the nation’s third oldest engineering college. During that period, he was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the National Sea Grant Review Panel and served as its chair from 1992–1994. Before coming to WPI, Dr. Baird was president and vice president of Schuster Corporation, an investment holding company. He also served as director of research at Geo-Marine, Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting firm in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Baird spent nine years as a professor of marine science at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. His published works include contributions to the biology of deep-sea fishes, encounter theory and natural resource management. Dr. Baird is a lifetime member of Sigma Xi and a fellow of the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists. In 2000, he received the Presidential Rank Award for helping position the United States as a world leader in marine research and the sustainable development of coastal resources.
Frank L. Kudrna, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer, Kudrna & Associates, Ltd.
Dr. Frank Kudrna is the chief executive officer of Kudrna & Associates, Ltd., a Chicago civil engineering consulting firm. Formerly he was president of Epstein Civil Engineering Company, and prior to that, he was director of the Illinois Division of Water Resources and supervising engineer of flood control and planning with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Dr. Kudrna has served for more than 25 years on the Great Lakes Commission. He is former vice-chairman of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission and the Ohio River Basin Commission. Dr. Kudrna holds a Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. During 2000, Dr. Kudrna served on the eight-member team that conducted an intensive review of the National Sea Grant College Program’s extension efforts that resulted in the report A Mandate to Engage Coastal Users.
Michael Morrissey
Director, Oregon State University Seafood Laboratory
Michael T. Morrissey is director of the Oregon State University (OSU) Seafood Laboratory and professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology. He has published more than 75 articles in seafood processing, safety, quality and byproduct utilization and has an active research program in innovative technologies for seafood such as high pressure processing, product development and seafood safety. He has been invited as a scientific lecturer by Fundacion-Chile, the National Fisheries Institute of Peru, the Center for Investigation of Food and Human Development in Mexico, the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science International Commemorative Symposium in Kyoto, the 1st Trans Atlantic Fisheries Technologists meeting in Iceland, and several others.
Dr. Morrissey is project director for Community Seafood Initiative, a program sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation and USDA which offers assistance to seafood entrepreneurs and small and mid-size businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest. He is a member of the advisory board for SEAFOODplus, a 26 million Euro project funded by the European Union, which involves 17 countries and 55 institutions. He has participated in seafood workshops in Mexico, Chile, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and Thailand. Dr. Morrissey’s accomplishments and professional expertise have been recognized by his peers through various awards such as the Oldfield-Jackman Team Award (1996) for Pacific whiting research, the Earl P. McPhee Award (1999) for his contributions to seafood science, an elected Institute of Food Technologists Fellow in (2003), and the Briskey Award for Faculty Excellence from the College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU (2004). He has been editor-in-chief of the Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology since 1998.
Jerry R. Schubel
President and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific
On 7 June 2002, Dr. Jerry Schubel became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. He also serves as director of the Aquarium's Marine Conservation Research Institute and its Aquatic Forum. From 1994 to 2001, he was president and chief executive officer of the New England Aquarium and is now president emeritus. From 1974 to 1994, Dr. Schubel was dean and director of the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. During three of those years he served as the University's provost. He is Distinguished Service Professor emeritus.
Dr. Schubel has written extensively for both scientific journals and general audiences. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and is the author or editor of several books, including The Living Chesapeake and (with Homer A. Neal) Garbage & Trash. Can We Convert Mountains Into Molehills? Dr. Schubel has long been active in regional, national and international environmental affairs, particularly with the coastal ocean. He holds a B.S. degree from Alma College, Alma, Michigan, an M.A. in Teaching degree from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in oceanography from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He received an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1998. He has served on a significant number of local, regional, state, national and international committees and panels. Present and very recent commitments include the Marine Board of the National Research Council, the National Science Panel for the Reclamation of South San Francisco Salt Ponds, chair of the NOAA Scientific Advisory Panels I and II on the proposed expansion of San Francisco International Airport, chair of the National Sea Grant Advisory Panel, member U.S. National Committee of the Census of Marine Life, chair of the San Francisco Bay Regional Monitoring Review Panel, NSF's advisory panel for Education and Human Resources, and chair of the Transportation Research Board's Committee on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Throughout his career a major focus has been on identifying and evaluating alternatives for solving major environmental problems of the coastal ocean. In 2004 he was selected as a National Associate of the National Academies.
LaDon Swann
Director, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
LaDon Swann is director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) and associate research professor in the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures at Auburn University. Dr. Swann divides his time between offices at the Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory located at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs.
Dr. Swann is responsible for identifying the programmatic needs in Alabama and Mississippi and works on creating ways to address those needs by coordinating new research, education, and outreach programs for both coasts. In addition to his duties for MASGC, he conducts research and teaches in the area of marine aquaculture with an emphasis in shellfish production and restoration.
The 44-year-old Tennessee native has 20 years of extension, teaching, and research experience in aquaculture and fisheries management. Previously, Dr. Swann held the position of aquaculture extension specialist for the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program at Purdue University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. His accomplishments include creating and managing a variety of Web sites, including the Aquaculture Network Information Center (AquaNIC), and holding positions as vice-president of the U.S. Aquaculture Association and past president of the Indiana Aquaculture Association. Dr. Swann has published more than 40 scientific and extension papers, videos, and CD-ROMs. He and his wife Roberta served as Peace Corps volunteers in Togo, West Africa, in the mid-1980s. They have two sons, Will and Gage, and reside in Mon Louis, Alabama.
Alaska Sea Grant Program Monitor
Megan Agy
Ecologist, National Sea Grant College Program
Since February 2003, Megan Agy has worked in NOAA’s National Sea Grant Office in Silver Spring, Maryland. Ms. Agy serves as the Program Officer for the Oregon, Washington, and Alaska Sea Grant Programs. She is also responsible for managing Sea Grant’s national research and outreach competitions and coordinating the development of national and regional initiatives between Sea Grant and NOAA or other partners.
Ms. Agy grew up in Snohomish, Washington. She went to college at Harvard where she concentrated in Environmental Science and Public Policy and ran cross country and track. Her senior honors thesis studied the long-term effects of oil contamination on salt marsh vegetation in Fidalgo Bay, Washington. After college, she worked at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and studied the impacts of invasive species on the Great Lakes. While working at GLERL, she completed an M.S. degree in Aquatic Ecology at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. She investigated changes in the nearshore and offshore zooplankton communities of southeastern Lake Michigan for her thesis. Upon completion of her master’s degree, Ms. Agy was awarded a Knauss Marine Policy Sea Grant Fellowship and moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the Office of Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). While working for Congressman Pallone, Ms. Agy served as his primary advisor on fisheries and coastal resource issues.
