RUSS MOLL MICHIGAN SEA GRANT DIRECTOR

[Martha Walter <mwalter@server.ciler-sg.engin.umich.edu>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 31, 1997

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Martha Walter, 313/647-0766
Michigan Sea Grant Communications

RUSS MOLL APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF MICHIGAN SEA GRANT 

	Dr. Russell A. Moll, an experienced Great Lakes scientist and 
administrator, has been appointed director of the Michigan Sea Grant 
College Program.  Michigan Sea Grant conducts research and education on 
the Great Lakes.  Dr. Moll was Michigan Sea Grant's Assistant Director 
from 1985-1993.  "As Director, I hope to further invigorate the Michigan 
Sea Grant College Program," said Moll.  "I want to increase overall 
financial support for the program and capitalize on the diverse abilities 
of our talented staff."

	Moll has traveled, studied, and published extensively on the 
Great Lakes, nearshore marine environments, and temperate and tropical 
rivers during 20 years as a researcher at the University of Michigan.His 
primary research interests are phytoplankton biology and biostatistics.  
Moll received his doctorate in 1974 from State University 
of New York at Stony Brook after investigating a phytoplankton community 
in an East Coast salt marsh.

	Moll was Director of NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Limnology 
and Ecosystems Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during its initial years 
from 1989-1994, overseeing its rapid growth to over 70 affiliated 
scientists.  Most recently, Moll served in Washington D.C. for two years 
as Associate Program Director for the Biological Oceanography Program of 
the National Science Foundation. 

	Moll's work has taken him as far away as The Gambia in West 
Africa, where he managed a research team that analyzed the effects on the 
country's irrigation system of damming the Gambia River.

	Moll replaces Dr. William Vorus, who has accepted a position at 
the University of New Orleans.  Michigan Sea Grant is a cooperative 
program of the University of Michigan and Michigan State Unviersity.  It 
is one of 29 Sea Grant programs nationwide dedicated to greater 
understanding, utilization, and stewardship of Great Lakes and ocean 
resources.

-30-


*********************************************
Martha Walter		Ph  313/647-0766
Senior Editor		FAX 313/647-0768
Michigan Sea Grant	e-mail  mwalter@umich.edu
2200 Bonisteel Blvd.	University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109	"In wildness is the preservation of the world."