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Great Lakes Science Center Director Takes New Position
- Subject: Great Lakes Science Center Director Takes New Position
- From: Roann_Ogawa@nbs.gov (Roann Ogawa)
- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 10:25:11 -0600
- List-Name: GLIN-Announce Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Judy Feaganes, 304/725-8461, x.674 Dr. Gregory J. Smith Named Acting Chief Biologist for the Eastern U.S. Dr. Gregory J. Smith is the acting Regional Chief Biologist for the Eastern Region of the USGS Biological Resources Division (BRD), replacing Dr. Susan Haseltine who has been named Deputy Chief Biologist for Science at BRD headquarters. "Greg Smith has outstanding qualifications for this position," said Chief Biologist Denny Fenn. "He offers both leadership experience and scientific insight to the Region during a critical transition period. Recruitment of Dr. Haseltine's permanent successor has begun, but the work cannot wait while we make a considered, deliberate evaluation and selection," Dr. Fenn added. "We are delighted to have someone with the credentials of Greg Smith available to provide professional interim management." In his temporary capacity, Dr. Smith will direct and oversee BRD programs, facilities, and services for an area that stretches from the Caribbean to the Canadian border and west to the Mississippi River. He will be responsible for providing policy, procedural, and organizational guidance to management and research personnel throughout the region. BRD has broad responsibility for monitoring the ecological health of the Nation and advising land managers, especially those of such Interior Department agencies as the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, on strategies and practices that will enhance and protect the natural resources entrusted to their care. Smith holds a Bachelor's degree in biology from Northern Michigan University. His masters and his doctorate were both earned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in wildlife ecology and veterinary science. His academic studies included work on the environmental impacts of mining in the Great Lakes region. His post-doctoral work addressed the effects of environmental contaminants on wildlife populations throughout the Great Lakes. Smith has worked in the private sector as the director of an environmental toxicology laboratory and was a research coordinator at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, one of the facilites that is part of the region he now administers. His most recent assignment has been as director of the Great Lakes Science Center in Michigan, also within the BRD Eastern Region. His government experience has included directing research projects in California's San Joaquin Valley designed to determine the effects of selenium and other contaminants on wildlife populations. He later worked at Patuxent, managing the laboratory that provides analytical chemistry to support U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research and operations. Dr. Smith has numerous scientific publications and is very active in the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. He was platform session chair for their 1996 national meeting. Smith and his wife, Kathy, are looking forward to relocating in Virginia with their two children, Jennifer (15) and Andrew (7). The BRD eastern region oversees seven of the organization's 16 scientific research centers: Upper Mississippi Science Center, LaCrosse, Wis.; Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.; the National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wis.; Patuxent, in Laurel, Md.; Florida Caribbean Science Center, Gainesville, Fla.; Leetown Science Center, Kearnesyville, W.Va.; and the Environmental Management Technical Center, Onalaska, Wis. The Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey works with others to provide the scientific understanding and technologies needed to support sound management and conservation of the Nation's biological resources. --USGS/BRD--