Iain Kerr Receives honorary doctor of humane letters degree
5/16/09
From the University of Southern Maine (USM) 2009 Commencement:
Many scientists have led research expeditions to all corners of the globe. Few, however, have been as supportive as Iain Kerr of rigorous scientific research that not only creates new knowledge but improves the public's understanding of our environment and the need to conserve it.
Mr. Kerr, a native of Scotland who holds a bachelor of education degree, with honors, from the University of London, began his career in 1983 as a volunteer research assistant at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida. Today, he is Vice President and CEO of Ocean Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to research which leads to a greater understanding of the ocean environment and the creatures within it, and that contributes to the conservation of whales. He is a pioneer in the development and use of benign research methodologies that have transformed our knowledge of whale populations worldwide. In addition, he played a key role in the successful effort in Papua New Guinea to establish a 1.25 million-square mile sanctuary for marine mammals.
Mr. Kerr also was the leader of the renowned "Voyage of the Odyssey", a multi-year program designed to gather the first-ever baseline data of levels of synthetic contaminants throughout the world's oceans. The project is named for the 93' steel-hulled research vessel Odyssey. This "research platform" enables scientists to spend long periods at sea, using whales and pelagic fish as indicator specie for measuring the impact of contaminants on the health of the species and the seas they inhabit. "The results," said Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman of the board of National Geographic Society, "will be far reaching, affecting all wildlife, including humans in addition to the whales.
USM, proudly, is a partner in helping to analyze and process information from this research. Data from the Odyssey's five-year voyage around the globe is housed in USM's Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology. USM scientists used the data to publish recently the first assessment of the impact of chromium (Cr) on Sperm whale populations around the world.
PBS, the Discivery Channel, BBC, and NHK are among the many outlets that have brought Iain Kerr's contributions to a broader audience. As USM Professor John P. Wise, Sr., said, "He has not only made original contributions toward documenting and understanding ocean pollution and its implications for the future of humanity, but also for supporting public education to bring about change in people's attitudes toward the dangers of environmental pollution."
As biologist Roger Payne says of Kerr: "Iain is a facilitator, a facilitator of science. Again and again it has been his efforts that brought us through. But nothing in his formal training could possibly have prepared Iain for the level of success he has achieved. It has come from hard work. Not many people in our field have has as wide an effect, and most of them have been recognized many times over. That's why I'm so pleased to see Iain finally receive this long-overdue, and richly deserved, honor."
The University of Southern Maine is pleased to award Iain Kerr the honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
