Don Scavia

Don Scavia, "who serves as Special Counsel to the U-M President for Sustainability, is the Graham Family Professor of Environmental Sustainability, Professor of Natural Resources and Environment, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Director of the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute. He is on the Advisory Board for the North American Nitrogen Center, the Science Advisory Board for the Annis Water Research Institute and the Central Michigan University Great Lakes Program, the Science Advisory Council of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and science advisor to the Healing our Waters Great Lakes Coalition.

"At U-M, he also serves on the Executive Committee for the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. He was Director of Michigan Sea Grant from 2004-2009, SNRE Associate Dean for Research from 2004-2006, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research from 2004-2007, Associate Editor for Estuaries and Coasts from 1998-2007; Associate Editor for Frontiers in Ecology and Environment from 2002-2006, served on the Boards of Directors for the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and the International Association for Great Lakes Research, and the Science Committee of NSF's Collaborative Large-scale Engineering Network for Environmental Research program.

"Prior to joining the Michigan faculty, as Chief Scientist of NOAA's National Ocean Service, Don was responsible for the quality, integrity, and responsiveness of NOS's science programs, and for ensuring that NOS's operations and resource management were based on solid science and technology. Before becoming the NOS Chief Scientist, he was Director of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and Director of NOAA's Coastal Ocean Program, where he managed coastal and Great Lakes research programs in NOS laboratories, monitoring and assessment offices, and extramural research. Between 1975 and 1990, Don was a research scientist with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, focusing on modeling and empirical studies on nutrient cycling, bacteria and phytoplankton production, food-web dynamics, and biological-physical coupling at all scales. He holds Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees in Environmental Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Michigan, has published over 70 articles in the primary literature and books, and led development of dozens of interagency scientific assessments and program development plans."