Dr. Mark R. Abbott

Biography

Mark R. Abbott is Dean and Professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University (OSU). He received his B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis, in 1978. He has been at OSU since 1988 and has been Dean of the College since 2001. Prior to coming to OSU, he was a member of the technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a research oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He is a National Associate Member of the National Academies.

Abbott's research focuses on the interaction of biological and physical processes in the upper ocean and relies on both remote sensing and field observations. Abbott is a pioneer in the use of satellite ocean color data to study coupled physical/biological processes. He advocated the inclusion of chlorophyll fluorescence bands in MODIS (the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on EOS Terra) and developed next-generation ocean primary productivity algorithms that used chlorophyll fluorescence data to estimate the physiological health of upper ocean phytoplankton. As part of a NASA Earth Observing System interdisciplinary science team, Abbott led an effort to link remotely-sensed data of the Southern Ocean with coupled ocean circulation/ecosystem models. His field research included the first deployment of an array of bio-optical moorings in the Southern Ocean as part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. He deployed bio-optical drifters in both the California Current and in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to study the impacts of mesoscale ocean circulation on ocean primary productivity.

He has advised the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation on ocean information infrastructure. Abbott organized a series of workshops for NASA, bringing leaders in computer science from industry and academia together with Earth scientists. He recently convened an NSF workshop on trends in information technology and their application to ocean sciences.

Abbott chaired the Committee on Earth Studies (CES) for the National Academy of Sciences. While chair of CES, he oversaw the production of three reports on the National Polar-orbiting Operation Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), including one focusing climate data services in support of NPOESS. He was a member of the NRC Committee on NASA/NOAA Transition from Research to Operations, and he was a member of the Panel on Land-use Change, Ecosystem Dynamics and Biodiversity which is part of the NRC Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space. Abbott also co-chaired NOAA's Climate Monitoring Working Group, and he chaired the Coastal Ocean Applications and Science Team for NOAA. He was chairman of the U.S. Joint Global Flux Study Science Steering Committee. He was recently reappointed to the Committee on Earth Studies for the NAS. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Abbott was appointed by the governor as vice-chair of the Oregon Global Warming Commission, which was established by the Oregon Legislature to oversee the state's efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation. He was appointed to the National Science Board in 2006.

February 2009