ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Frank E. Müller-Karger is one of eight USF professors are being recognized by AAAS, The American Association for the Advancement of Science for their career achievements in research and advancing science. Frank Müller-Karger has been recognized for his distinguished contributions to marine science, particularly in advancing understanding of biodiversity and the dispersal of water from the largest rivers to the world’s oceans.
Get to know Dr. Frank E. Müller-Karger
Frank E. Müller-Karger
Frank E. Müller-Karger is a Professor in the USF College of Marine Science and the
Director of the USF Institute for Marine Remote Sensing. As a biological oceanographer, Dr. Müller-Karger’s research focuses on how marine ecosystems change over time. Using a time series of observations
to study changes in water quality, primary production, and biodiversity in coastal
marine environments, he is advancing a broader understating of the impacts of large-scale
phenomena such as climate change and human activities on ecosystems, and how these
changes in turn affect society. Dr. Müller-Karger has made several significant contributions
to the field. He pioneered efforts to map the dispersal of water from large rivers
in the ocean, including water from the Amazon, Orinoco, Magdalena and Mississippi
Rivers. He led a team that established the Carbon Retention in a Colored Ocean (CARIACO)
Ocean Time Series Program. This 25-yearlong study tracked the seasonal variability
in phytoplankton production at the Cariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela and documented
the links between large-scale ocean changes, biodiversity of the plankton, changes
in fisheries in the region, and the fine sediments that settle to the bottom of the
anoxic Cariaco Basin. Dr. Müller-Karger is internationally recognized for his work
using satellite observations, and among other impactful outcomes, contributed to the
first high resolution global map of shallow tropical coral reefs. Dr. Müller-Karger
continues to use satellites that measure ocean color and sea surface temperature to
assess the importance of continental margins in the global carbon budget. As a result
of his leadership across a number of national and international studies, Dr. Müller-Karger
was named a Commissioner to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy by former President
George W. Bush. He has served on the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research
Council/National Academies. He currently serves as a Co-lead for the Marine Biodiversity
Observation Network, an initiative supported by NASA, BOEM and NOAA. He serves as
an expert on panels for NASA, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and
other professional science groups. He previously received the NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory Award for Outstanding Contributions and the NASA Administrator Award for
Exceptional Contribution and Service for supporting development of satellite technologies
for ocean observation. Over the course of his career, he has published more than 250
articles, book chapters and influential reports. Dr. Müller-Karger speaks Spanish,
German, and English. He received a B.S. in biological oceanography from Florida Institute
of Technology; a M.S. in oceanography at the University of Alaska, and he completed
his Ph.D. in marine and estuarine sciences at the University of Maryland. He also
holds a M.S. in management from the University of South Florida.