Belle W. Baruch Institute and Coastal Sciences

Dr. James Morris is the Director of the Belle Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Professor of Biological Sciences, Distinguished Professor of Marine Studies at the University of South Carolina, and a AAAS Fellow.  He served as a Program Officer at the National Science Foundation from 2003-2005 and was a visiting professor at Aarhus University, Denmark in 1990.  His academic background includes degrees in environmental sciences, (BA, Univ. Virginia), biology (MA, Yale) and forestry and environmental studies (PhD, Yale).  He held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole before taking a faculty position at the University of South Carolina in 1981.  Morris has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and is regarded as an expert on the effects of sea-level rise on coastal wetlands.  His varied skills include analytical chemistry and numerical modeling.  He has served on numerous committees and panels, including the US National Science Foundation, the Irish National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the IndoFlux committee of India.  Dr. Morris has a long history of funding from NSF, USGS and NOAA for research on the effects of sea level change on coastal wetlands.  He also serves on the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis Wetland Carbon Modeling working group.

Admiral West served as Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy where he managed a multi- million dollar program providing oceanographic, meteorological, geospatial and navigation support for the U.S. Navy from 1999 to 2002.  As the first Navigator of the Navy, he led the Navy’s transition to electronic navigation.  As Oceanographer of the Navy, he was the Department of Defense representative to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. He had three tours in the Pentagon, has served on several Navy combatants and has commanded three ships, two during hostilities in the Arabian Gulf.