February 16, 2006
Sea Grant chooses veteran of ‘other Washington’
The woman who helped shape marine policy at the national level and spoke before Congress and federal ocean agencies on behalf of 83 of the nation’s largest oceanographic institutions has joined the UW as director of the Washington Sea Grant Program.
Penelope Dalton, with 20 years of experience in marine and coastal issues, now leads an organization that funds research on such things as the accidental capture of endangered seabirds, introductions of harmful non-native animals and plants, shellfish farming techniques and new cancer-fighting medicines from the sea.
Part of a network of 30 state programs administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington Sea Grant Program is one of the oldest and, with a budget of $5 million a year from federal and other funding sources, is the second largest behind California. At the UW, Washington Sea Grant is a part of the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences.
Dalton comes to the UW from the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, or CORE, in Washington, D.C. As the consortium’s vice president, Dalton helped give its members, which includes the UW and other major oceanographic institutions, a unified voice on national and international ocean issues.
Prior to working for the consortium, Dalton spent two years at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service as assistant administrator, managing the 2,500-member scientific and technical staff in more than two dozen facilities across the nation. From 1987 to 1999, she was a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
While with NOAA’s fisheries service, she says, she experienced first-hand how Northwest issues drive national ocean policy.
“My experiences in the ‘other’ Washington will be helpful in maintaining Washington Sea Grant’s reputation as one of the top Sea Grant programs in the nation,” Dalton says. “It’s no easy feat to fill former director Louie Echols’ shoes, but I’m eager to expand the program’s boundaries to meet today’s challenges.”
Dalton’s master’s in marine-estuarine-environmental science is from the University of Maryland and her bachelor’s in biology is from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. She’s also been a teacher on a U.S. Navy base in Rota, Spain, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.
A key component of Sea Grant is applying the latest science to pressing needs. For example, the program recently funded a study of water circulation in Hood Canal, contributing to our understanding of seasonal oxygen deficits in this otherwise highly productive water body. It has also helped underwrite exploration of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an undersea oasis more than a mile beneath the waves, where many previously unknown and potentially useful life forms exist.
“Our motto, ‘Knowledge for use in the marine environment,’ more or less says it all,” Dalton says.
Dalton says her initial goal is to better serve Sea Grant’s consituents by strengthening exisiting partnerships with the UW, other academic insitutions, federal, state and local government, tribes, and marine-related industries and associations.
