Faculty of Science
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 4R2 | +1 (902) 494-3540

Marlon Lewis 

Killam Professor

Oceanography

Education  

  • 1984, PhD, Dalhousie University
  • 1980, MSc, U. Maryland
  • 1975, BSc, U. Maryland

     

Affiliations 

  • 1994 - Present, President IOSAT; Member, NSERC Interdisciplinary Discovery Grants Panel (GSC-21, 2003-2006) Member, Multidiscplinary Advisory Committee (MAC), Canada Foundation for Innovation (2006) Member, Advisory Panel, Minister of Industry Canada on Commercialization (2005; 2007) Member, Advisory Panel, Minister for Immigration (Federal & Provincial) Secretary to Science Panel, Canadian Meteorological and Atmospheric Society (2002-Present). Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Canada Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (2003-Present) Member, U.S. NSF Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Sensor Technology Panel (2004-Present) Member, Future of Marine Sciences in Canada Panel (NSERC, DFO, NRCan) (2006- Member, Board of Directors, Aerospace Industry Assoc. Nova Scotia (1992-2001) Member, U.S. JGOFS Scientific Steering Committee (1996-2003) Member, Scientific Steering Committee, French JGOFS (2001-2006) Member, SOC, Pacific Ocean Remote Sensing Environment Conference Planning Committee, Ocean Optics Conferences Associate Editor, Limnology and Oceanography Methods Associate Editor (Special Edition), Limnology and Oceanography 
      

Awards and Honours

  • Lindeman Award, American Society for Limnology and Oceanography, Outstanding paper by young scientist, 1988
  • Special Outstanding Achievement Award, NASA Headquarters, 1990
  • Killam Prize, Faculty of Science, Dalhousie University, Outstanding Young Professor, 1992
  • Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Advanced Technology Category, Atlantic Canada 1999
  • Top 50 CEO’s in Atlantic Canada, 2000
  • Poste Rouge, Centre National de Researche Scientifique, France, 2001-2002
  • Can. Meteorol. Oceanogr. Soc. (CMOS) Invited Lecture Tour, Western Canada, 2005
  • Satlantic:  Canadian Information Productivity Awards.   Best of Category, Next Generation Solutions (2000, Ocean Monitoring Workstation);  Nova Scotia Top Exporter of the Year (2005;  Also:  Top Exporter through Partnerships)  Canadian National Innovation Award (2005) for "Development of Export Sales".   Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters

Publications
More than 116 refereed papers

Website:  Dr. Lewis' website

E-mail: Dr. Marlon Lewis

  
More than catching fish  -- my research
interests ....

  • Phytoplankton ecology
  • Bio-optical oceanography
  • Upper ocean physics 

Biological Oceanography concerns the biology and ecology of oceanic, marine, coastal and estuarine organisms. These range from viruses and bacteria to microbes and phytoplankton, from zooplankton and benthic invertebrates to shellfish, fish and marine mammals. The organisms live in a dynamic fluid easily described as a chemical soup that covers ~71% of the earth's surface and is intimately coupled to the atmosphere, the seafloor and the land. Thus, to determine how organisms are influenced by their environment, biological oceanographers must function across many sub-disciplines such as biochemistry, genetics, physiology, behaviour, population dynamics and community ecology. They must be knowledgeable of ocean physics, chemistry, geology, and atmospheric and radiative processes. They need to be adept at mathematics, statistics, and computerised analyses of large amounts of data. They should be prepared to test hypotheses, to collect data at sea, in the lab, or from remote sensors and then to understand the measurements, model the results and contribute to extant theory. Clearly, biological oceanography is an inter-disciplinary science that demands collaboration. Success is ultimately reflected in the ability to explain variation in the biological nature of the ocean such that predictions can be made with a specified degree of uncertainty.