Director of the Center for Ocean Leadership

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Sonya Legg has been selected to serve as the first permanent director of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s new Center for Ocean Leadership. Legg, who comes to UCAR from Princeton University, will begin working at COL over the summer and fully step into her new role on September 5. She will lead COL’s mission to support ocean science, education, and monitoring in partnership with the ocean science and technology community as part of UCAR Community Programs (UCP).

Legg brings with her 30 years of experience at oceanographic research centers, most recently as the Associate Director of the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System at Princeton. She is currently serving on the Scientific Steering Group of the World Climate Research Programme CLIVAR project and as an associate editor of the Journal for Advances in Modeling the Earth System. Legg has also served as co-chair of MPOWIR (Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention), a mentoring program committed to improving gender balance in the oceanography field.

Legg will work with current and future COL affiliates, bringing together a range of interagency and community committees and working groups. Some 86 science institutions and consortia from the academic, nonprofit, and industry sectors recently reaffirmed their affiliation with UCAR COL.

John Muckle led this search with Alexandra Lolavar and Kira Hamilton.

View the full press release here.