Page 19: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2007)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 19 received a B.S. degree in chemical engineer- ing from the University of Michigan in 1968, an M.S. degree in chemical engineer- ing from the University of Colorado in 1972, and a Ph.D. in physical oceanography from The Johns Hopkins University in 1976.

Breck Owens joined the WHOI staff in 1975 as a postdoctoral investigator and was appointed an assistant scientist in 1978. He was promoted to associate scientist in 1982 and to senior scientist in 1992. His research interests include the general circulation and eddy variability in the world's oceans, ocean-atmosphere coupling dynamics, the use of models to interpret observations and the development of float technology and autonomous vehicles for ocean monitoring.

He is one of the co-developers of the Spray glider, the first autonomous underwater vehicle to cross the Gulf Stream, and is one of the principal investigators for the U.S.

Argo float program for climate change stud- ies.

The W. Van Alan Clark Chairs were estab- lished in 1986 and are named for the late W.

Van Alan Clark, Sr., and W. Van Alan Clark,

Jr., longtime friends and supporters of the

Institution.

W, Van Alan Clark, Sr., was a businessman and philanthropist who served as board chairman of Avon Products, Inc. He was one of the first Woods Hole Oceanographic

Institution Associates and served the

Institution as a Corporation Member and

Honorary Trustee. W. Van Alan Clark, Jr., was President and Chairman of Sippican

Corp. of Marion, MA, and a former profes- sor and associate dean at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology.

He served the Institution as a Corporation

Member, Trustee, Associate and was chair- man or a member of several Institution committees. Both he and his father were well-known sailors, with W. van Alan Clark,

Sr., involved in international cruising and racing.

Steven J. Manganini, a research specialist in the Geology and Geophysics

Department, is the recipient of the Allyn

Vine Senior Technical Award. He received a bachelor's degree in biology from Nasson

College in 1974.

He joined the WHOI staff in 1977 and has participated in numerous research cruis- es around the world. Steve has spent much of his career studying how particles travel from surface waters into the deep sea, and has developed instrumentation and analyti- cal methods to further characterize particle and sediment materials.

The Vine award is named for former

WHOI physical oceanographer and vision- ary Allyn Vine, for whom the submersible

Alvin is named.

Vine was widely recognized as a leading proponent for manned exploration of the deep sea, and championed construction of other tools for the national community, often producing new techniques and unusu- al equipment. He passed away in 1993 at age 79.

It is awarded for a three-year period and is presented to a member of the Institution's technical staff who "has distinguished him- self or herself through extraordinary accom- plishments in engineering, instrument development, information systems, or oceanography, and who has demonstrated a commitment to mentorship and partnership with junior technical staff members."

Nominations are solicited from the scientif- ic and technical staff, with selection based on the individual's record of excellence.

The endowed senior scientists chairs are each awarded for a five-year period to tenured members of the Institution's scien- tific staff who have "distinguished them- selves through extraordinary scientific research and education." Nominations are solicited from the scientific staff, with selec- tion based on the individual's record of sci- entific excellence.

The Institution's Director and Executive

Committee of the Board of Trustees approve the awards.

Science news

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