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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Mark Abbott, dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, has been appointed president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution effective Oct. 1.

Abbott, who has been dean of the OSU college since 2001, is a national leader in marine science research and education. He has been a member of the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and advises Congress and the president on science issues; and he is past-president of The Oceanographic Society.

"Oregon State has developed into a highly regarded marine science institution with an international reputation in coastal processes, ocean mixing, paleoclimate, geohazards, and ocean biogeochemistry, among other fields," Abbott said. "The faculty here are extraordinary and it will be difficult to leave.

"Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is one of the top institutions in the world in ocean science and engineering, and I'm looking forward to this new challenge and opportunity."

Abbott came to Oregon State in 1988 with a background in using satellites and remote sensing techniques to study biological processes in the oceans. With a 10-year, $10 million grant from NASA, he helped the college create one of the world's most sophisticated supercomputer networks dedicated to marine science, capable of analyzing enormous amounts of data.

He was named dean of what was then the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences in 2001 and led significant growth in research funding, graduate education and overall impact. The college has developed a reputation for its work in understanding climate change, analyzing the near-shore oceans, paleoclimatology, and other fields.

"Mark Abbott has led the phenomenal growth of marine sciences at Oregon State and helped establish the university as one of the top such programs in the world," said Sabah Randhawa, OSU provost and executive vice president. "His leadership will be greatly missed, but the foundation that he helped build will serve the university going forward."

In 2009, the National Science Foundation announced that OSU would be one of the lead institutions on the $386.4 million Ocean Observatories Initiative that since has established a system of surface moorings, seafloor platforms and undersea gliders to monitor the ocean. One such array is off the coast of Oregon and Washington.

In 2013, the NSF selected Oregon State as the lead institution on a project to finalize the design and coordinate the construction of as many as three new coastal research vessels to bolster the marine science research capabilities of the United States - a project that could bring in as much as $290 million over 10 years if all three vessels are built.

Abbott was appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush to a six-year term on the National Science Board; and appointed in 2008 by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski as vice chair of the Oregon Global Warming Commission. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership as well past member of the Board of Trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

He also is a member of the Board of Trustees for NEON, Inc., which is constructing the National Ecological Observatory Network for the National Science Foundation.

In 2011, Microsoft Research awarded him the Jim Gray eScience Award, which recognizes innovators whose research on data-intensive science - sometimes known as "big data" - is revolutionizing scientific approaches to a wide range of issues.

Prior to joining the OSU faculty, Abbott spent six years as a member of the technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Jolla, Calif., and was an adjunct faculty member at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

He is a 1974 graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, where he received a bachelor's degree in conservation of natural resources. He also has a Ph.D. in ecology from University of California-Davis.

Randhawa said OSU will begin the process to identify an interim dean and launch a national search for Abbott's successor in August.