COURTESY OF WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
Mark Abbott
WOODS HOLE – The new President and Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution says he’s looking to continue the organization’s work as the foremost institution exploring the world’s oceans.
Mark Abbott was recently chosen after a six-month search for a new leader. Abbott comes to Cape Cod from Oregon State University, where he served as dean and professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric sciences. Abbott has 35 years of ocean research experience.
Abbott takes over for Susan Avery, who has headed the organization since 2008. Abbott is the 10th director in WHOI’s 85-year history.
“It is the top ocean institution certainly in the United States, if not on the planet,” Abbott said, “which would mean the known universe,” he quipped.
“It’s such an exciting time now in the high tech world,” Abbott said of WHOI’s reputation in science, engineering, and ocean exploration. “We can just go and explore the ocean, pardon the pun, in much more depth.”
Abbott has spent his career on the West Coast, receiving his Bachelor’s in conversation of natural resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California Davis.
