Anne Giblin Named Interim Director of MBL Ecosystems Center

Marine Biological Laboratory senior scientist Anne Giblin has been named interim director of the Ecosystems Center.

Giblin has been a member of the MBL faculty for more than three decades. Her research focuses on the cycling of elements in the environment and understanding how ecosystems respond to high nutrient inputs from wastewater and fertilizer.

"It's been my privilege to work at the MBL Ecosystems Center for nearly my entire scientific career, “ said Giblin.  “I am excited to have the opportunity to work with my colleagues to sustain the excellence of current research and education programs at the Center and to help forge new directions that will strengthen our partnership with the University of Chicago."

Giblin leads the Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research project at the MBL site on Plum Island, north of Boston, where she works extensively.  This is one of a national network of research sites created by the National Science Foundation.  She also conducts research in marshes in the Gulf of Mexico and on the New England continental shelf and studies arctic lakes on the north slope of Alaska.

Giblin received a Ph.D. from Boston University and a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She joined the Ecosystems Center staff in 1983 and was named a Senior Scientist in 2003.  Giblin is also an Adjunct Professor at Brown University in Biological and Environmental Sciences, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Boston University, and a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

Giblin succeeds Christopher Neill who held the post since 2012.

“We are very fortunate to have someone of Anne’s commitment and talent lead the Ecosystems Center during this period of transition,” said Huntington F. Willard, President and Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory.  “Our strategic concentration on marine life, oceans, and mechanisms of evolutionary and ecological resilience will benefit enormously from Anne’s leadership and from increasing focus and growth at the intersection of organismal biology, microbiomes, and our changing environment.”

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.