TOS Council Election 2026

Mona Behl

The ocean serves as the beating heart of our planet’s life-support system, yet it faces unprecedented stress. In this era of rapid change, incremental discovery is no longer enough. Aligning with this urgency, the National Academies’ 2025–2035 Decadal Survey challenges the ocean science community to build a new paradigm for ocean forecasting that safeguards both marine ecosystems and human well-being. Meeting this moment requires a fundamental transformation in how ocean science is integrated, communicated, and applied; a shift The Oceanography Society (TOS) is uniquely positioned to drive.

TOS can seamlessly bridge traditional oceanography disciplines with social sciences, artificial intelligence, and engineering, while integrating Indigenous and local knowledge to support communities on the front lines of change. By leveraging our meetings, workshops, and publications, TOS can connect researchers directly with policymakers, private sector innovators, and blue economy leaders to co-develop actionable solutions. Crucially, by cultivating educational and professional development opportunities for students and early career professionals while providing travel grants and wrap-around services, TOS can ensure a vibrant, globally connected ocean science talent pool. With its current strategic plan already building momentum in these areas, TOS has a clear path to translate this ambitious framework into lasting impact.

Beginning as an educator in India and advancing as an oceanographer and Sea Grant professional in the United States, my career has been defined by a commitment to uniting people and resources for societal progress. Across research, administrative, and public service roles, my work centers on fostering cross-sector collaboration to build resilient communities, while expanding access and participation across geosciences. If elected President, I would be honored to bring my experience to serving TOS members and strengthening our collective impact as a global ocean science community.

Oscar Schofield

Oscar Schofield has spent his career at sea and in the laboratory. He is a Distinguished Professor and co-Founder/Director of Rutgers University’s Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RU COOL), he earned both his bachelor’s degree (1987) and Ph.D. (1993) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. Agricultural Research Service, he studied harmful algal blooms and algal physiology in intensive aquaculture systems. Rutgers University brought him on in 1995 and he has remained ever since. At Rutgers he has never taken a sabbatical as he has had too much fun working his friends and collaborators. He loves to teach and is an active teacher/mentor, anchoring undergraduate/graduate courses and teaching every term at Rutgers. With friends he has developed extensive outreach programs that includes K-12 teacher training, invited science story telling on national media, and two award-winning full-length documentary movies developed with undergraduate students. He contributes significant community service being the Chair of Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences over a decade, chairing/serving on many National Academy studies and numerous external reviews of universities, national laboratories, and companies. For TOS he was the North American Chair for the Oceanography Society Meetings in Paris, France.

His research interests are broad spanning from algal physiology, marine optics, food web ecology, and developing novel ocean observing technologies. Oscar has run a wide range of programs spanning tropical, temperate and polar seas. He has always had a focus on open access data and development of data products that can also serve societal needs. These efforts were recognized by awards from Naval Research Laboratory, the Department of Homeland Security, and three separate resolutions by the state government recognizing unique contributions to people of New Jersey. He has over 275 peer-reviewed publications spanning ocean engineering, the evolution of phytoplankton, to climate change impacts on the polar ecosystems. Oscar was awarded the Hutchinson Award, the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Enduring Achievement Award, and the TOS TEAM award.

Oscar’s motivation to serve. TOS has been an incredible resource and community to me over my career ever since I was a graduate student in the stone ages… The journal provides an amazing resource to me as a teacher, the meetings provide an opportunity to connect past-present-future collaborators, and TOS provides a forum for us to develop ideas or navigate stormy seas. With the unique conditions we face today, TOS is more important than ever which is why I am motivated to serve. This is an overwhelming time with public trust in science in question, a warming ocean, an accelerating blue economy, automation of ocean observing networks, physical-biological-chemical sensors evolving, and a creative new generation of researchers which is inspirational. My hope is I can build on the great work being done with a focus on helping the next generation of oceanographers thrive with TOS.

Julien Middleton

Julien Middleton (they/them) is a seagoing chemical oceanographer who specializes in non-traditional stable isotope geochemistry. They received a B.A. in Physical Chemistry and Mathematical Ecology from Colby College in 2015 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography in 2022 before pursuing a postdoc at University of California – Santa Barbara from 2023 – 2026. They currently work as a postdoc at the Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research at the University of Colorado – Boulder.

Julien’s work incorporates multiple non-traditional isotope systems, currently barium, silicon, and lithium, to investigate the impact of mineral-fluid interactions on modern marine isotope signatures in the water column and sediments, as well as the role these processes play in altering isotope signatures used as paleoclimate proxies. As an early career isotope geochemist, they are eager to support peers in oceanography and earth sciences to navigate the changing landscape of scientific exploration. They are deeply motivated to work with colleagues to create a safe, welcoming, and equitable environment that fosters support for students and scientists in underrepresented groups and have worked as a member of the TOS JEDI Committee since 2024. Their recent stint as Chair of the 2025 Chemical Oceanography Gordon Research Seminar was an exciting opportunity to develop a conference program aimed at enriching the chemical oceanography community for participants of all career stages and backgrounds.

Julien is eager to support the mission of TOS and increase collaboration between large scientific societies as we collectively navigate the changing academic landscape.

Mara Freilich

Mara Freilich is the Thomas J. and Alice M. Tish Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences. She uses mathematical modeling and observations to study the interactions between ocean and ecological dynamics with the aim of gaining a predictive understanding of the ways that components of the climate system interact across spatial and temporal scales. Her research focuses on fluid dynamics, biogeochemistry, and microbial ecology. She uses methods including theoretical analysis, numerical modeling, interdisciplinary observations, and community-engaged research. She is particularly interested in developing inclusive, interdisciplinary scientific communities, including across traditional disciplines, methodologies such as models and observations, and between academic organizations and communities. She is co-editor of Climate Changed: Models and the Built World. She earned an ScB in Applied Mathematics from Brown University (2015) and a PhD in Physical Oceanography from the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program (2021). She completed postdoctoral work as a Scripps Institutional Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023) and was a Fulbright Fellow at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2016). Recent awards include Henry Merrit Wriston Fellowship from Brown University, Editor’s Award from the Journal of Physical Oceanography, and a Rossby Award for Best Thesis (MIT Program in Atmosphere, Oceans, and Climate). Her recent service activities include associate editor of the Journal of Physical Oceanography, organization of national and international workshops and organization of sessions at Ocean Sciences Meeting, and membership on the Salton Sea Science Committee. These are critical times for the future of ocean sciences. She hopes to work with the TOS Council to support early career scientists; increase engagement between academics and community organizations; and facilitate interdisciplinary engagement within our community.

Bror Jönsson

Bror Jönsson is a Research Associate Professor at the Ocean Processes Analysis Laboratory, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, at the University of New Hampshire. He studied biology at Uppsala University and received a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the Department of Meteorology at Stockholm University in 2005. His doctoral work used circulation models and Lagrangian methods to study coastal dynamics, ocean turnover times, and tropical estuaries. He then held postdoctoral positions at Boston University with Amala Mahadevan and at Princeton University with Michael Bender, continued as an Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University, and was a Senior Scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK from 2018 to 2023, where he remains an Honorary Fellow. In 2024 he returned to UNH, where he had first been appointed in 2016. Outside of work, he enjoys cycling, climbing, kayaking, and cooking.

His research focuses on how ocean physics shapes biological and biogeochemical processes, and on how to merge large and disparate data sources, such as satellite observations, numerical models, and in-situ measurements, to answer scientific questions. A central thread is Lagrangian particle tracking: he co-developed the TRACMASS trajectory model and uses the approach for different Lagrangian process and connectivity studies including directly assessing fluxes from satellite-derived products. With network theory, he has quantified how quickly surface currents connect distant regions of the global ocean, and what that connectivity means for plankton communities under warming. He has also developed new statistical approaches to assess variability in sparse satellite fields and to evaluate ocean models with satellite products. He is a member of the NASA GLIMR science team, a Simons Foundation CBIOMES Scholar, and a Co-I on the Schmidt Sciences OBVI Ocean Margins Initiative, which studies upwelling in the Gulf of Guinea. He has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications.

His service includes membership on the OCB steering committee, the IOCCG Working Group on Optical Water Types, and the advisory board of BCO-DMO, where he helps guide open data management for NSF-funded oceanographic research. He was also a contributing author to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Building research capacity in tropical regions is a central part of his work. He has taught at the COESSING coastal ocean summer school in Nigeria and at the Trevor Platt Foundation summer school in Hyderabad and Kochi, India. Through the Ocean Margins Initiative, he works to build equitable research partnerships between West African and US scientists. Earlier, he taught college courses in New Jersey state prisons through the Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative from 2010 to 2016. As Physical Oceanography Councilor, Bror looks forward to bringing his experience of bridging models, satellite data, and in-situ observations to TOS. He hopes to strengthen the links between physical oceanography and other marine research communities, support early career scientists, and broaden participation in ocean research from tropical and Global South countries.

Kara Lavendar Law

Kara Lavender Law is Research Professor of Oceanography at Sea Education Association (SEA; Falmouth, MA). Trained in physical oceanography (PhD, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; BS, Mathematics, Duke University), her early work investigated deep-water formation and ocean circulation associated with the thermohaline circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean. Following a postdoctoral appointment at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, she joined the faculty at SEA teaching undergraduates from colleges and universities across the U.S. on shore at SEA’s Cape Cod campus, and guiding their research at sea aboard SEA’s two sailing oceanographic research vessels, SSV Corwith Cramer and SSV Robert C. Seamans. In the early 2000s, Kara’s professional focus shifted to research on plastic pollution in the marine environment, initially through analysis of a decades-long data set of floating microplastics collected by SEA students in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She studies the distribution, accumulation, and physical and chemical characteristics of ocean microplastics to understand the processes that transport these particles and transform them through weathering, photodegradation, and fragmentation. Her work expanded to quantify sources of plastic waste to the ocean – especially plastic waste generated on land – aiming to prevent plastic leakage to the environment, including through system-level changes in the design, use, and end-of-life management of plastics. Kara has led and participated in multi-disciplinary working groups that synthesize knowledge from disparate fields to advance understanding of plastic pollution, and serves on numerous technical advisory boards for programs focused on plastic pollution as well as the redesign of circular plastics and upcycling of plastic waste. Other professional activities include providing testimony to U.S. Senate and California State Assembly Committees, and serving as a delegate to the INC-4 session to develop a treaty on plastic pollution. Kara serves on the editorial boards of Environmental Research Letters and Microplastics and Nanoplastics, is a Fellow of the Plastics Center at Northeastern University, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2026. If elected to the TOS Council, Kara looks forward to sharing her interdisciplinary perspective within education, research, and policy spheres to help advance the goals of TOS in engaging student members, enhancing multidisciplinary research, and building a policy program to support both Policy for Science, and Science for Policy.

Victoria Ramenzoni

I am a marine anthropologist who studies coastal community adaptation. I was born in Argentina, where I did my B.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology at Universidad de Buenos Aires. I moved to the U.S. in 2007 to pursue my Ph.D. at the University of Georgia. As part of my doctoral research, I lived on Flores in Eastern Indonesia for about two years, exploring environmental uncertainty among artisanal tuna fishing communities.

After graduating, I spent about two years at NOAA as a fellow and then as a contractor under the chief economist in the social science team. My work focused on socioeconomic indicators and ecosystem services. In late 2015, I relocated to the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. This allowed me to visit Cuba and develop a long-term collaboration with colleagues for Universidad de La Habana that I still maintain. Our efforts concentrated on post-hurricane recovery, coastal adaptation, and recreational fisheries.

I moved to Rutgers in the fall of 2018 after I joined the Department of Human Ecology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in New Brunswick. For the past few years, my scholarship and teaching have alternated with fieldwork in Indonesia, Cuba, South Korea, and the U.S. As an ecological anthropologist, I run the Coastal Communities Adaptation Lab at Rutgers University. My scholarship centers on understanding the nexus among behavioral adaptation, uncertainty, and socioecological change to inform policy solutions. More concretely, my work explores how perceived socioeconomic and environmental uncertainty shapes patterns of resource use among coastal communities and the structure of the institutions created to manage the use of those natural resources.

https://sites.rutgers.edu/victoria-ramenzoni/research/

Abbie Tingstad

Abbie Tingstad will join the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as its director in September 2026. Her primary areas of expertise are geography and public policy analysis. Tingstad is interested in a wide range of Arctic and Northern issues, including governance, security, societies and cultures, and the environment. Even though her expertise is regional, she looks for opportunities to highlight Arctic Ocean connectivity with climatic and environmental changes elsewhere in the world and often draws upon insights from research across the world’s oceans to inform Arctic marine policy work.

From 2023-2026, Tingstad was a visiting Professor of Arctic Research within the Center for Arctic Study and Policy (CASP) at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. While there, she conducted research related to the heterogeneity of human engagement with Arctic places, regional maritime security and safety, and the Arctic blue economy. She also helped develop and teach a Polar Area Studies course, mentored cadets in research projects, and designed and hosted workshops and tabletop exercises.

Tingstad was also a researcher at the RAND Corporation from 2010-2026 where she led research on the Arctic, defense, homeland security, and environmental policy. She also spent some of her time at RAND as the co-Director of the Climate Resilience Center, an Associate Research Department Director, an Associate Research Program Director, and as a local leader in the Women in Defense organization.

Tingstad has a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MSc in Environmental Geomorphology from the University of Oxford, and a BS in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Through TOS, she is excited to engage with community members on ocean governance issues including further identifying research priorities to support emerging “blue” economy policies and the design of fisheries management approaches in a changing climate. She is also interested in finding new ways to combine physical and social sciences to look at questions concerning human-natural systems in marine environments.