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Welcome IMS Director, Eric Palkovacs

We're very pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Eric Palkovacs as the director of UC Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), for a five-year term commencing on July 1, 2025.

Eric is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. He currently also serves as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, and Director of the Fisheries Collaborative Program; the latter supports research, education, and outreach collaborations between UC Santa Cruz and the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center. His research program explores connections between evolutionary and ecological processes in freshwater and coastal ecosystems, with the goal of informing biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries management. Eric received his PhD from Yale, held positions at the University of Maine and at Duke, and then joined the faculty at UC Santa Cruz in 2012. We anticipate that Eric’s enthusiasm, broad experience, and vision will take marine sciences at UC Santa Cruz to new heights and frontiers.