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Monday, December 5, 2005 Scripps Marine Research Physiologist Pioneer to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award Gerald Kooyman honored by the Society for Marine Mammalogy Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego Gerald Kooyman, emeritus professor of biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, will be the first recipient of a new lifetime achievement award bestowed by the Society for Marine Mammalogy during the society's 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.The presentation of the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award to Kooyman, a renowned expert on the diving physiology of air-breathing animals, will take place at a special dinner ceremony Dec. 12 in San Diego.  Gerald Kooyman The 24-year old society selected Kooyman for his ingenious approaches to field work, especially in adapting techniques developed by Per Scholander, director of the Physiological Research Lab at Scripps in the 1960s. "He's a hero," said James Estes, editor of the society's journal, Marine Mammal Science. "His research has really been groundbreaking. He really changed people's view of how diving animals economize time and oxygen." Kooyman came to Scripps as a postgraduate researcher in 1968. He is currently a member of Scripps Oceanography's Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine. But his interest in Antarctic animals began in 1961, when he signed on to serve as a field assistant in a Stanford University expedition to the continent. Once at Scripps, Kooyman devised innovative methods for studying the dive behavior of Weddell seals, returning so frequently he has a mountain in Antarctica named after him. Kooyman learned that if he led the docile animals to pre-drilled ice holes, the seals would return to the same hole after their dives, making them effective models for study of diving physiology. He would glue small time-depth recorders that he invented onto their fur (the special epoxy falling away in subsequent molts) and wait for them to resurface. His waits would sometimes last more than an hour; the seals frequently reached depths of 700 meters (2,300 feet) and remained submerged as long as 82 minutes. From these observations, Kooyman was able to describe how the seals efficiently budget their oxygen supply and the mechanisms by which they respond to changes in pressure as they descend and resurface.  Emperor Penguins A component of the Norris Award recognizes a recipient's efforts to mentor younger researchers. Estes recalls being "transfixed" when he first heard the physiologist deliver a lecture some 25 years ago. "Another part of his being selected is that he is universally liked and well-regarded," he said. "Kooyman's one of the giants." Prior to the award presentation, Kooyman will deliver a lecture entitled "Mysteries of Adaptation to Hypoxia and Pressure in Marine Mammals" during the first plenary session of the conference, which takes place at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego from Dec. 12 to Dec. 16. The award is named for the society's first president, Kenneth Norris, a professor of biology and natural history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Norris passed away in 1998. Scripps Institution of Oceanography on the web:scripps.ucsd.edu Scripps News on the web: scrippsnews.ucsd.edu # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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