Leadership Profiles
The staff members overseeing day-to-day operations and supporting the goals of the director and the institution.
Margaret Leinen
Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Vice Chancellor and Dean for Marine Sciences
As Director of Scripps, Dr. Margaret Leinen is responsible for management of the campus, ship facilities, and other off campus sites. As Vice Chancellor, she coordinates activities related to marine and environmental science across UC San Diego. And as Dean, she is responsible for the coordination of academic and research programs for Marine Sciences.
Gilbert, Jack
Deputy Director for Research and Associate Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences
The Deputy Director for Research coordinates and fosters new research developments, oversees research infrastructure, research space, internal research support, researcher hiring, limited proposal submissions, the SIO postdoc program, organizes the semi-annual research retreat, coordinates the review of centers and sections, serves as the SIO Director in the SIO Director’s absence and as a member of the Scripps Senior Staff. Additional details can be found here.
CALLAGHAN, PATRICK
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Finance & Operations
Patrick functions as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer to Scripps Oceanography, providing leadership and oversight for budget and finance; contracts & grants; network operations; facilities; campus planning and construction; and human resources management. More about his team can be found here.
RITZMAN, KATHLEEN
Associate Director, Marine Sciences
Leads Scripps Office of Government Relations, Research Development, Strategic Partnerships, and Events. Facilitates extramural funding at the federal, state and local levels, promotes strategic collaboration with external partners, and engages key external stakeholders in support of Scripps priorities, research, educational and infrastructure programs, and initiatives. Program Areas include research development, planning, positioning, and partnerships; government and corporate relations; and institutional events and venue management.
APPELGATE, BRUCE
Associate Director, Ship Operations and Marine Technical Support (SOMTS)
Appelgate has executive responsibility for the management of the SIO fleet of research vessels and the scientific capabilities aboard them. This includes administrative and support activities at the Scripps Nimitz Marine Facility, expedition scheduling and planning, and oceanographic technical services. He also manages the UC Ship Funds program, and supervises the Scripps programs in Scientific Diving, Scientific Boating, the Marine Science Development Center, and is the Scripps representative to the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS).
Alford, Matthew
Section Head, Oceans and Atmosphere
Scripps divides its research and academic activities into three sections, Oceans & Atmospheres, Earth and Biology. The section head coordinates research, budgets and space for their respective section, as well as facilitating section wide discussions on hiring and other priorities. Matthew Alford is the head for Oceans and Atmospheres, which has 63 faculty, 48 researchers, 92 students, 24 postdocs and 186 staff. The section head job description can be found here.
ALLEN, ANDREW
SIO Faculty Chair
The SIO Faculty Chair is an elected member of the faculty, representing the interests of our Professors and Researchers in the shared governance of the university. The Faculty Chair serves as the interface for the SIO Faculty in dealings with the SIO Administration and the Academic Senate.
Allen, Eric
SIO Department Vice Chair
The SIO Department Vice Chair supports the Department Chair and helps to provide leadership for SIO's educational programs, with responsibilities for faculty and students, and serves as a member of Scripps Senior Staff.
ALUWIHARE, LIHINI
SIO Department Chair and Deputy Director for Education
The SIO Department Chair and Deputy Director for Education provides leadership for SIO's educational programs, with responsibilities for faculty and students, and serves as a member of Scripps Senior Staff. The SIO Department handles undergraduate and graduate course scheduling and instructor assignments, graduate admissions and funding, student advising, student approval forms (for departmental exams, committee formation, qualifying exams, and thesis approval), faculty recruitment, faculty advancement and promotion, teaching assignments, and graduate student and faculty leave requests.
Barbeau, Kathy
Program Director, Geosciences of Earth, Oceans, and Planets (GEO)
The Program Directors help organize teaching assignments within the curricular groups and for undergraduate education and MAS programs associated with their area, approve new courses and fellowship decisions within the program, and provide guidance to section heads on future faculty hires so that teaching needs are represented. A complete position description can be found here.
Bauman-Pickering, Simone
Faculty Equity Advisor & Associate Dean
FEDDERSEN, FALK
Program Director, Climate-Oceans-Atmosphere (COAP)
The Program Directors help organize teaching assignments within the curricular groups and for undergraduate education and MAS programs associated with their area, approve new courses and fellowship decisions within the program, and provide guidance to section heads on future faculty hires so that teaching needs are represented. A complete position description can be found here.
HANSES, DAVID
Executive Director of Development
The Executive Director of Development manages the engagement of Marine Sciences’ most capable and generous donors in considering transformational gifts to support Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Vice Chancellor-Marine Sciences’ highest priorities. Leading a team of 12, the EDOD oversees the development and implementation of global, private fundraising efforts in support of annual and capital campaign goals. For more information about our current funding priorities and giving opportunities, please see our website: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/giving
HECHINGER, RYAN
Program Director, Ocean Biosciences (OBP)
The Program Directors help organize teaching assignments within the curricular groups and for undergraduate education and MAS programs associated with their area, approve new courses and fellowship decisions within the program, and provide guidance to section heads on future faculty hires so that teaching needs are represented. A complete position description can be found here.
HELLING, HARRY
Executive Director, Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Leads the public aquarium and outreach center for Scripps Oceanography at UC San Diego. Provides oversight of animal care, conservation and science programs for over 6000 marine animals; ocean STEM-focused K-12 educational programs serving over 50,000 students per year; and, providing engaging ocean science exhibits, programs and experiences for 500,000 public visitors to the Scripps campus.
LASKE, GABI
Section Head, Earth
Scripps divides its research and academic activities into three sections, Oceans & Atmospheres, Earth and Biology. The section head coordinates research, budgets and space for their respective section, as well as facilitating section wide discussions on hiring and other priorities. Gabi Laske is the head for Earth, which has 64 faculty, 34 researchers, 86 students, 20 postdocs and 74 staff. The section head job description can be found here.
Oh, Shauna
Director of California Sea Grant
The Director provides leadership and programmatic oversight of California Sea Grant, a program funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that is part of a national network of 34 programs that promotes better understanding, conservation, and use of coastal resources. Working with academics and staff throughout California, the Director builds successful partnerships across constituencies within and beyond the state to facilitate high-impact research, outreach, education, work-force development and communication programs.
Palenik, Brian
Associate Dean of Marine Sciences
The Associate Dean advises the Dean on all academic personnel matters. These include recruitment and hiring, the academic review process (promotion and advancement), and issues of general compensation and retention. The associate dean also serves as the interface between the SIO Committee on Academic Personnel and other campus academic reviewers.
SANDIN, STUART
Section Head, Biology
Scripps divides its research and academic activities into three sections, Oceans & Atmospheres, Earth and Biology. The section head coordinates research, budgets and space for their respective section, as well as facilitating section wide discussions on hiring and other priorities. The section head job description can be found here.
WOOD, LAUREN
Director of Strategic Communications
Lauren Fimbres Wood serves as the marketing and communications lead for Scripps Institution of Oceanography with a focus on strategic communications. She oversees strategic planning, branding, press release and editorial content, media relations (local to global), social media, video content creation, and digital media including newsletters and website content. Visit the Scripps News page for more information.