Leadership Profiles

The staff members overseeing day-to-day operations and supporting the goals of the director and the institution.

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Margaret Leinen in red jacket with Scripps pier and ocean in the background

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.

Patrick Callaghan

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.

Kathleen Ritzman

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.

Bruce Appelgate

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).

Andrew Allen

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.  

Lihini Aluwihare

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, faculty recruitment, faculty advancement and promotion, teaching assignments, and graduate student and faculty leave requests.

Keiara Auzenne

AUZENNE, KEIARA

Director of Diversity Initiatives

Kathy Barbeau

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.

Simone Baumann-Pickering

Bauman-Pickering, Simone

Faculty Equity Advisor & Associate Dean

Cathy Constable

Constable, Cathy

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. Earth Section has 64 faculty, 34 researchers, 86 students, 20 postdocs and 74 staff. The section head job description can be found here.

David Hanses

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: scripps.ucsd.edu/giving

Ryan Hechinger

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.

Harry Helling

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.

Julie McClean

Mcclean, Julie

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. Oceans and Atmospheres has 63 faculty, 48 researchers, 92 students, 24 postdocs and 186 staff. The section head job description can be found here.

Joel Norris

Norris, Joel

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.

Shauna Oh

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.

Brian Palenik

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.

 

Stuart Sandin

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.

Lauren Wood

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.