John Knauss Representing Alums with Emeritus status Member, SIO Network Leadership Team Chair, Education Network Executive Committee

John Knauss received SIO's PhD in 1959. John's introduction to marine science began during World War II. Knauss, a promising writer from Detroit, was commissioned to the Navy program in meteorology at MIT in support of the maritime war effort. With his uniform and MIT's degree in meteorology, he left Massachusetts to forecast the weather for San Diego's North Island Navy base.

A few years later while working in the Navy Hydrographic Office, John met Roger Revelle and was offered a job as an ONR program officer. Knauss quickly fell in love with oceanography and enrolled in SIO's PhD program as Revelle's student In the 1950's, few were formerly trained in the field. John alternated between active duty and being a student once even serving as Acting Director of SIO while Roger was at sea. In 1959, John completed his dissertation on the Cromwell Current.

Fresh out of graduate school and on the heels of Sputnik, John Knauss was appointed to the cabinet-level National Oceanographic Council. Just three years after receiving his PhD, John was recruited as the founding dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. Over the next 25 years John went on to develop one of the leading science institutions in the US.

President Lyndon Johnson, in 1966, appointed Knauss to set protective national policy for the oceans as a member of the Stratton Commission. John went on to play a crucial role in formulating NOAA's Sea Grant Program, and was recognized, in 1979, for his leadership role by creating the John Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. In 1989, after retiring from the Graduate School of Oceanography, Knauss was appointed as Administrator of NOAA under the first Bush Administration.

In recognition of John's statesmanship, leadership in marine science, and visionary approaches to marine policy, the UCSD Alumni Association honored him with its Professional Achievement Award in 2002.