Maine Sea Grant Director Wins National Sea Grant Association Award

Contact: Catherine Schmitt, (207) 581-1434 or catherine.schmitt@umit.maine.edu

Paul Anderson, the director of the University of Maine-based Maine Sea Grant College Program, has been named a recipient of the national Sea Grant Association President’s Award.

Anderson served as president of the Sea Grant Association from 2007 to 2008, during which time he worked with the National Sea Grant office, SGA committees, the National Sea Grant review panel, members of Congress and others towards the successful 2008 reauthorization of the National Sea Grant College Program. He is currently completing a term as past president.

In 2004, Anderson oversaw UMaine’s official designation as an independent Sea Grant College Program.

The Sea Grant Association President’s Award is given by the president of the Sea Grant Association to individuals or groups who provide special service to the SGA and Sea Grant network.

Before joining Sea Grant in 1999, Anderson spent 10 years at Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) as chief microbiologist and director of the Public Health Division. Anderson was chosen in 1999 to represent the U.S. and Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference at the Harmful Algal Management and Mitigation conference in the Philippines.

In 2000 Anderson was awarded the prestigious U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Commissioner’s Special Citation for strengthening the state’s shellfish programs and increasing shellfish safety in the Northeast.

Sea Grant is a national network of 30 programs that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Maine Sea Grant College Program is based at the University of Maine and has a mission of supporting marine science education, research, and outreach.

For more information, go to http://www.seagrant.umaine.edu/.