Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Werner to Head NOAA Scientific Programs

Cisco Werner, whose work has focused on the oceanic environment in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, has been appointed as director of scientific programs and chief science advisor for NOAA Fisheries effective June 12.

In his new post Werner will continue working on planning, developing and managing a multidisciplinary scientific enterprise of basic and applied research on living marine resources, NOAA officials said.

Prior to this appointment, Werner was the director of NOAA Fisheries’ southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC). From 2011 through 2017, he led SWFSC in research including the California Current, the US West Coast watershed and parts of the North Pacific, the Eastern Tropical Pacific and the Antarctic.

As director of the SWFSC, Werner headed the NOAA Fisheries’ US science delegation in bilateral meetings with Mexico and Argentina, and was US/NOAA fisheries lead for meetings of the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like species in the North Pacific Ocean, from 2013-2015.

His research has focused on the oceanic environment through numerical models of ocean circulation and marine ecosystems in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He has studied effects of physical forcing on lower trophic levels and the subsequent effect on the structure, function and abundance of commercially and ecologically important species. He is the author and co-author of over 100 papers in scientific journals and book chapters.

Prior to joining NOAA he held several academic posts, as director and professor of Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and as chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Marine Sciences.

Cisco holds a doctorate in oceanography, a master of science in oceanography, and a bachelor of science in mathematics, all from the University of Washington.

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