JDG completes 2 Science and Research Director searches for NOAA Fisheries
JDG and NOAA are pleased to announce the appointment of Kristen Koch as the new Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. The Southwest Fisheries Science Center employs over 300 research and support staff at laboratories in La Jolla, Santa Cruz and Monterey, California. As Director, Ms. Koch will continue the work of planning, developing and managing a multidisciplinary program of basic and applied research on the living marine resources in the in the California Current and in freshwater ecosystems of California. She will also oversee several international research programs, including the U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program and research conducted in the eastern tropical Pacific and throughout the broader Pacific. Ms. Koch received her Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in Sociology from Mills College.
JDG and NOAA are also pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Clay Porch as the new Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center which includes the main laboratory in Miami, Florida as well as labs in Texas, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Dr. Porch has long-standing experience at NOAA, having held various positions with the agency for more than 25 years, winning multiple awards for his leadership and administrative capabilities. He has served as a member of the Science Center’s leadership team since 2006 and has overseen population assessments and research for vitally important domestic fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, as well as some in the South Atlantic and internationally for the International Commission for the Conservation of Tuna. He is also an internationally recognized expert in the field of fishery stock assessments having written more than 160 technical reports and peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Porch received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami.
