Winter 2007, Vol. 3, No. 1 | Index

I’m taking a few minutes away from writing my latest grant proposal to send greetings and best wishes for the New Year to all of you and to update you on some of the latest news from the MBL.

This winter’s warmer temperatures have meant lower heating bills and have also kept the contractors renovating the Rowe Laboratory (the new name of the Whitman building) working at full capacity. I’m pleased to report that the project continues to go smoothly. It’s on time and on budget. You can read about more MBL construction and renovation projects on page 5.

I’m also happy to note that the 2007 Friday Evening Lecture Series has been finalized. Speakers include 2006 Nobel Laureate Craig Mello; two distinguished MBL course directors, Lee Niswander (Embryology) and Mike Dickinson (Neural Systems & Behavior); and Hugh Ducklow, the new Director of the MBL’s Ecosystems Center, among others.

Hugh Ducklow, who will be joining the MBL community this spring, is currently the Glucksman Professor of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at the College of William and Mary. He is a marine ecologist who studies plankton dynamics and biogeochemistry and brings to the MBL a National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research Program focused at Palmer Station in Antarctica. His research centers on the interactions between climate change and ecosystem function, especially on the Antarctic Peninsula, a region that is warming especially fast.

I look forward to sharing more good news about the MBL with you in the very near future. In the meantime, best wishes for a happy and healthy 2007.

Gary Borisy

Director & CEO

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