Speaker: Jeffrey M. Reutter, Ph.D.

Jeffrey M. Reutter began working on Lake Erie at Stone Laboratory in 1971 and directed 4 programs at The Ohio State University from 1 November 1987 to 31 March 2015: F.T. Stone Laboratory, the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, the Center for Lake Erie Area Research, and the Great Lakes Aquatic Ecosystem Research Consortium, a consortium of top scientists at 12 Ohio colleges. He also served as acting director for all or parts of 1984, 85, and 86. When he retired as Director, he accepted a part-time appointment as a Special Advisor for the programs.  He received his BS and MS from OSU in fisheries management and his Ph.D. from OSU in Environmental Biology. He has been a member of the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel, serving many federal agencies and offices, where he chaired the Education Sub-Panel and served on the Research to Application Task Force. He served for 21 years on the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers for the International Joint Commission in US State Department with 6 years as US Co-Chair, and has been the President of the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) and the Ohio State Chapter of the Scientific Research Society, Sigma Xi. He is the US Co-Chair of the Lake Erie Millennium Network and the Objectives and Targets Task Team for Annex 4 (nutrients) of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. He served for 12 years on the Board of the Great Lakes Protection Fund and is currently a trustee for The Nature Conservancy in Ohio and the Cleveland Water Alliance.

Dr. Reutter is an aquatic biologist and limnologist, the author of over 150 technical reports and journal articles, and a frequent lecturer on issues related to the changing Lake Erie ecosystem, harmful algal blooms, nutrient loading, aquatic invasive species, linking environmental health and coastal economic development, Great Lakes research needs and priorities, the importance of science education and research, and the importance of scientists communicating with the public. While at OSU he has aided in the development of 24 endowments and supported over 2200 students with scholarships, fellowships, and part-time work.  He has been the principal investigator on over $50 million in grants and contracts.  He received the Friends of Stone Laboratory Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ohio Environmental Council, and the 2015 Water Conservationist of the Year Award from the League of Ohio Sportsmen.  In 2017, OSU and the Friends of Stone Laboratory created an endowment in his name for student scholarships and research at Stone Lab.


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