The MIT Sea Grant College Program has recently appointed new staff members to head two of its advisory services, which transfer research results and technology to potential users.
Rich G. Morris is the program's new manager of industry and federal relations. In this capacity, Mr. Morris will work with the Sea Grant national office, focusing on the commercialization of autonomous underwater vehicles designed by the MIT Sea Grant Underwater Vehicles Laboratory. Mr. Morris will also direct the MIT Sea Grant Marine Collegium Program, which organizes workshops and conferences to link ongoing academic research and development activities with the industrial sector.
Before coming to MIT, Mr. Morris was general manager for Endeco, a Marion-based developer of oceanographic and environmental instrumentation. He also served as a member of MIT Sea Grant's State Industry Advisory Council. Mr. Morris received the BS degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and the MBA from Babson College.
Dr. Judith Pederson has been named manager of coastal processes and Commonwealth relations. She will be responsible for interacting with environmental and coastal organizations in Massachusetts to help bring science together with coastal marine management and policy. A major project will be the development of a field training course for people conducting marine monitoring.
A biologist who worked as a coastal ecologist with Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management for eight years, Dr. Pederson has also advised MIT students in projects combining scientific research and coastal policy. She received the BS degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the MS from Syracuse University and the PhD in biology from Clark University.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 15, 1995.
