September 30, 2004

ITHACA, N.Y. -- William E. Bemis, professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has been selected as the Kingsbury Director of the Shoals Marine Laboratory.

The Shoals Marine Laboratory, located in the Gulf of Maine and operated under the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell in cooperation with the University of New Hampshire in Durham, has built an international reputation for excellence in providing rigorous, hands-on marine science field experience for undergraduates. Bemis' appointment will be effective June 1, 2005.

Bemis succeeds James G. Morin, who has held the post for seven years and will take a one-year sabbatical leave before returning to teaching at Cornell full time in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2006. Bemis also will serve as a professor in that department.

Commenting on the appointment, Cornell's vice provost for life sciences, Kraig Adler, said: "Professor Bemis has had a broad and distinguished career as a research scientist and administrative experience as a program director at the National Science Foundation. His challenges will be to raise the profile of Shoals at Cornell, the Northeast and nationally; to broaden the financial base of the lab; and to integrate its activities more fully into the life science programs at Cornell."

Neurobiology and Behavior Professor Thomas Seeley, who chaired the search committee, said Bemis "brings enthusiasm and energy, his administrative experience, his knowledge of the NSF, his Cornell heritage, his knowledge of the fishes and his friendly personality to SML."

Founding SML Director John M. Kingsbury said Bemis "is remarkably well placed -- academically, experientially and in personality -- to command that island at sea called Appledore, and to orchestrate that intense whirlpool of educational activity the undergraduates experiences there." He lauded what he described as a "cooperative choice of Cornell and the University of New Hampshire, and the decision of Dr. Bemis to invest himself in this personally rewarding but strongly challenging position."

As director, Bemis will take over leadership of the marine science lab, more than 150 undergraduates and 9 undergraduate researchers, 90 adult education students, 50 faculty and teaching assistants and an annual $1 million education program.

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