Officials with the Alaska Ocean Observing System have announced the appointment of Sheyna Wisdom, effective Jan. 2, as the new executive director of AOOS.
Wisdom is currently managing director of Fairweather Science, which provides specialized environmental support services to Alaska’s natural resource industry. She will replace Moly McCammon, AOOS founder, who has served as executive director since its founding in 2002.
McCammon will step back in January to serve as senior advisor to AOOS.
AOOS goals include increasing access to existing and coastal and ocean data, and increasing observing and forecasting capacity in all regions of Alaska, with a priority on the Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska.
Wisdom received a master’s degree in marine science from the University of San Diego, where she wrote her these on sound production in gray whales.
She came to Alaska in 2006 as an environmental consultant specializing in noise effects on wildlife, and helped run a large, multi-disciplinary research program in the Chukchi Sea sponsored by Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and Statoil.
As general manager of Fairweather Science, Wisdom has also managed an artificial polar bear den detection study, marine ecosystem studies in the Beaufort Sea/Prudhoe Bay region funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and a multitude of other projects.
