NEWPORT – Lisa Ballance, an ecologist at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries research center in California was named Monday as director of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute in Newport.
Ballance succeeds Bruce Mate, who is retiring after serving as the director since its inception in 2006. She will start in the new position Oct. 14.
Ballance is director of the marine mammal and turtle research division at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif.
“Lisa Ballance is exceptionally gifted, both as a marine ecologist and an administrator,” said Alan Sams, dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, which is the academic home of the institute. “She has an international reputation for her scholarship on marine birds and mammals, and for her leadership of large science teams within NOAA.”
As director of OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, Ballance will oversee six scientists, more than 15 technical and administrative staff, and seven graduate students who study marine mammals in oceans around the world. The mission of the OSU institute is to advance conservation and understanding of marine mammal ecology, which incorporates habitat, food web, health and environmental issues.
The institute also works with industries (fisheries, shipping, oil and others) that have potential for endangering target species to help them save marine mammals while accomplishing their work.
Mate is a pioneer in using satellites to track tagged marine mammals. He founded the marine mammal program at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and has served as its director since its inception. An internationally known researcher, he has been featured in several documentaries, including National Geographic’s “Kingdom of the Blue Whale.”
Ballance has conducted research in Antarctica, Australia, the Philippines, Cambodia, the Maldives, the greater tropical Pacific and Indian oceans and in the waters off California.
The Marine Mammal and Turtle Research Division that she has directed since 2007 consists of about 70 scientists who conduct research on marine mammals and turtles.
