January 3, 2007                                                          Contact: Peg Van Patten

                                                                                    860-405-9141

 

CONNECTICUT SEA GRANT WELCOMES NEW DIRECTOR

 

AVERY POINT, GROTON CT---The Connecticut Sea Grant College Program begins the New Year with a new leader at the helm. Gregory J. Anderson, Vice Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Education at the University of Connecticut, has announced Dr. Sylvain De Guise as the new Director of the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, based at the UniversityÕs Avery Point Campus.  Connecticut Sea Grant is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, a network of 31 university-based programs in coastal and Great Lakes states.  Dr. De Guise will lead and oversee the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program's efforts to develop fundamental knowledge, technology, trained personnel and public awareness that will advance the sustainable use of coastal and marine resources and environments.  Dr. DeGuise has been with the University of Connecticut since 1999 as a Professor in the Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science and has been a very successful Interim Director of the Connecticut Sea Grant Program for the past year and a half during a competitive national search process.

 

ÒThe Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG) staff is extremely pleased that Dr. De Guise will be staying on with the program as the new DirectorÓ said Robert J. Johnston, Associate Director for CTSG.  ÒAs Interim Director since 2005, he has led the program successfully through the development of a new strategic plan and its five-year program assessment (ÒPATÓ).  We are excited at the prospect of continuing our success under his leadership, and we ask everyone in the broader university and Sea Grant community to welcome Dr. De Guise to his new, permanent position.Ó   

Dr. De Guise received his Ph D  in immunotoxicology at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, and his D.M.V. degree (veterinary medicine) at the Universite de Montreal. He now makes his home in Coventry, Connecticut.  Earlier in his distinguished career, Dr. De Guise participated in research cruises that involved the capture and sampling of wild beluga whales in the Arctic and was asked by the Turkish government to evaluate the health of a beluga in the Black Sea. He is a scientific advisor for the United NationsÕ Environment ProgramÕs Marine Mammal Action Plan, and a member of their international emergency team.  More recently, he investigated the effects of the pesticide malathion on Long Island Sound lobsters.

Dr. De Guise can be reached at 860-405-9138, or via e-mail, sylvain.deguise@uconn.edu. 

Connecticut Sea GrantÕs web site is:  http://www.seagrant.uconn.edu