Many great moments in science have come about as chance, and such may be the case with Curtis Olsen, UMass Boston's new director of the Environmental Coastal and Ocean Sciences (ECOS) department.
As an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, Olsen pursued a track that may have been more designed for a hospital than a harbor. "I was a biology major. I was pre-med and thinking of medical school. I had a professor who asked me to work for him in a work study job in the geology department," recalls Olsen. "That summer I worked in the San Juan mountains in Colorado doing field research, and I just loved it."
The chance experience opened Olsen's eyes to new opportunities. Olsen eventually double majored in biology and geology and started on a career, that like the location of his new job, is a junction of land and sea.
In ECOS, Olsen believes he has found a university, colleagues and students that share his vision from years ago of crossing disciplines to better understand the problems of society and science.
"The strengths that attracted me to the ECOS Department were the integrated multi-disciplinary nature of the ECOS faculty, the diversity of the students, and the dedication of the administration, faculty, and students to high-quality research and scholarship without traditional disciplinary borders," explains Olsen.
Olsen's science credentials also come with experience with federal agencies and grants. "Curtis is an experienced scientist whose contacts in Washington and with major funding agencies should serve the department and the campus very well," explains ECOS program Founder and Professor Emeritus, Joseph Cooney.
Cooney adds that Olsen's appointment, which coincides with ECOS moving from a graduate program to a full department signals what he hopes is the university's renewed commitment to ECOS.
For his part, Olsen sees much enthusiasm for the interdisciplinary program. " I was impressed with all the people I met during my interviews, especially with their desire, as a group, to see ECOS develop to its full potential in interdisciplinary education and research at the land-ocean interface," he says.
Since earning his Ph.D. in environmental biogeochemistry from Columbia in 1979, Olsen has been performing environmental research for segments of the federal government. Just prior to his arrival at UMass Boston, Olsen lead a new initiative with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, coordinating programs of environmentally relevant federal agencies.
Olsen has managed and attracted millions of dollars in grants, and his results have garnered attention. Vice President Al Gore awarded him a certificate recognizing his "contribution to building government that works better and costs less."
Olsen also has earned international notoriety for his research. He has published more than 60 articles, and even as a government administrator, he published an average of about two papers per year, something the science community holds as an example of his commitment to research and scholarship.
With these credentials, Olsen chose UMass Boston to be his future, in part, because he sees programs such as ECOS as leading to the solutions of the future. "In the next century, many of the most promising frontiers for advancing society and science will occur at the interfaces of cultures and disciplines," explains Olsen.
"Interdisciplinary collaborations will be particularly important for developing new teaching and research initiatives and for effectively addressing environmental issues."
"I am confident that ECOS will be successful in educating the American public and training students with the cross-disciplinary skills needed to effectively conduct environmental research, and to understand the tradeoffs involved in making informed decisions about social, economic, and environmental issues," he adds.