Oceanography | December 2015
I met John Knauss only once, in passing, over 20 years ago, after I
had given a seminar at the University of Rhode Island. Reflecting
on that encounter later that evening, I was chagrined that I had
squandered the opportunity to ask him how it was possible to
do so many things so well for so long. The list is exhaustive:
educator, researcher, seagoing oceanographer, program man-
ager, government and university administrator, founding dean,
and author. Most oceanographers, even with careers stretching
the length of Knauss’s, can check just a couple of those boxes.
In fact, are there oceanographers like John Knauss anymore?
Contemplating this question reminds me of how baseball has
evolved over the past few decades. Where once there were start-
ing and relief pitchers, today there are starting pitchers, mid-
dle relief and long relief pitchers, setup pitchers and closers, as
well as left-hand specialists and, seemingly, some pitchers to
simply warm the bench. Few pitch the whole game today. But
John Knauss—he pitched the whole game. He started, he was the
relief, he closed, and he pitched the extra innings. Going the dis-
tance meant that his reach was tremendous, as evidenced by the
titles of the articles in the 2001 issue of Oceanography honoring
John’s 50 years of service to ocean science.
On the research front, as a graduate student at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, John made the first comprehensive
measurements of the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent. As his
career progressed, he increasingly turned his attention to marine
policy and management. He played an instrumental role in the
formation of the National Sea Grant Program in 1966. He was
the only academic oceanographer on the Stratton Commission,
authorized by Congress in 1966 to make recommendations for
the “full and wise use of the marine environment.” Those rec-
ommendations included creation of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the formulation of the Coastal
Zone Management Act. His strong belief in freedom of research
on the high seas led to his appointment as a delegate to confer-
ence discussions that culminated in the Law of the Sea Treaty,
negotiated in the 1970s and adopted in 1982. John’s passion and
talent for marine policy and management were evident during
his tenure as Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere in
the Department of Commerce and administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1989–1993). His
contributions to marine science, policy, and management were
recognized by a National Sea Grant Award, an Ocean Sciences
Award from the American Geophysical Union, and fellowship in
the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, and the Marine Technology Society.
M. Susan Lozier, TOS President
A Tribute to John A. Knauss
(1925–2015)
And there’s more. John was deeply interested in graduate edu-
cation. His graduate study at Scripps impressed upon him the
importance and utility of a multidisciplinary core education, a
priority he brought to the University of Rhode Island in 1962
when he was appointed as the founding dean of the Graduate
School of Oceanography. John’s interest in graduate education
extended beyond preparing students for academic research into
the realm of what today we would call public scholarship. His
accomplishments in marine policy and management, built upon
a background as a research oceanographer, were a strong testa-
ment to the contributions that PhD oceanographers could make
outside the walls of the academy. Fittingly, the Washington, DC,
internships created as part of the Sea Grant program are named in
his honor. Since 1979, John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships
have been awarded to hundreds of graduate students interested in
applying their training as oceanographers to the service of federal
agencies focused on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. It
is fair to say that his efforts have not only helped shape graduate
programs in ocean sciences, but have also opened many doors for
graduates of those programs.
John Knauss inspired our generation. What are we doing to
inspire and prepare the next generation? Are our graduate stu-
dents prepared to meet the science goals outlined in the recent
report Sea Change: 2015–2015 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences
and the needs of public scholarship, including outreach and edu-
cation? Are we giving these students the leadership and commu-
nication skills they need for careers in industry and the govern-
ment? In short, are we serving our students well? If not, perhaps
we also need a sea change in graduate education. Please con-
sider attending the TOS Town Hall at the 2016 Ocean Sciences
meeting where there will be a discussion focused on the future
of graduate education in ocean sciences. The conversation will
be enriched by many voices.
More than what we write or say about John Knauss, the most
fitting tribute to his legacy is to continue his tradition of con-
tributing to the ocean sciences community. Thinking carefully
about how we educate the next generation of oceanographers is
a step in that direction. One might call it an opening pitch. Few
of us will go the distance that John did, but he certainly provides
inspiration to all of us to step to the mound for a few innings and
pitch some new ideas.
FROM THE PRESIDENT