Dr. Roger Revelle
Roger Revelle was a giant of a man, both in his 6-foot, 4-inch stature and in his impact on San Diego, for it was he who was the father of the University of California, San Diego, general campus here. And it is the world-class prestige of UCSD’s faculty that has attracted so many high-technology companies to start, grow and prosper in San Diego.
Dr. Revelle was born in Seattle, grew up in Pasadena, and graduated from Pomona College in 1929 with a BA in geology. He received a Ph.D. in oceanography from UC-Berkeley in 1936, after having joined Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1931, the same year as his marriage to Ellen V. Clark. Revelle was in the Navy during World War II and head of the Geophysics Branch, Office of Naval Research, from 1946 to 1948.
He then returned to SIO as Professor of Oceanography and became its director from 1950 to 1964. Early on, he conceived that having a general campus of the University of California would improve the quality of SIO’s graduate students—by giving them better training in physics, chemistry and biology—if it were located nearby. From 1954 onward he was engaged in studies and politicking to persuade the UC Regents, the Legislature, and the City of San Diego that UCSD should be built. That watershed decision came in 1959, and the new campus then commenced building. The first General Campus graduate students enrolled in 1960, and the first undergraduate students enrolled in 1964.
Despite what he did in leading the fight to get UCSD’s physical plant financed and built, Revelle’s most meaningful achievement was the recruitment of world-class scientists to come and join its faculty—for their names lured other outstanding people to come. And their prestige attracted money for research grants and superior students to enroll. At one time, UCSD’s faculty had eight Nobel laureates and 50 members of the National Academy of Sciences. Revelle hoped to desegregate the sciences and the humanities and social sciences, because of the profound effect of technology and scientific discovery upon all aspects of modern society.
Though UCSD’s first college is named for him, he never became Chancellor—but that is another story. When the new campus was fairly launched, in 1964 he moved on to Harvard University, where he was Professor of Population Policy and Director of the Center for Population Studies until his retirement in 1976. He then returned to reside in La Jolla until his death in 1991—teaching, doing research and living his belief that science can make a great contribution to the welfare of people everywhere.
—Courtesy of the San Diego Historical Society
Dr. Roger Revelle Perpetual Award
The Dr. Roger Revelle Perpetual Award is given annually to a San Diegan who has made a significant contribution to man’s ability to coexist with the marine environment. It is intended to recognize not only scientists, but also individuals from academia, industry, the military, recreation and philanthropy who take the initiative in helping to resolve ocean issues and to encourage stewardship of ocean resources.
The recipient’s name is placed on the perpetual award. The trophy consists of a hand-carved wooden Garibaldi and associated habitat mounted on a pedestal trophy base. Internationally renowned marine artist Bob Berry carved the sea life sculpture.
Each year, the award is presented to a new recipient at the Annual Sustainable Seafood Gala.
Recipients
Kevin Hovel 2013 Roger Revelle Co-Recipient
Kevin is currently Associate Professor of the Biology Department at San Diego State University. Kevin is actively involved with SDSU Bridges to the Future Program to increase the number of minority biological science majors at San Diego community colleges who will transfer to SDSU or another four year university.
He is also involved with The Ocean Discovery Institute, mentoring students K-12 for the past eight years. Kevin uses science exploration to engage urban and diverse young people on marine biology through education and scientific research. In 2012, Kevin was appointed by the California Department of Fish and Game to be one of two marine science representatives on the Lobster Advisory Committee. This program oversees the creation of a fishery management plan for the California spiny lobster. Kevin works closely with the Department of Fish and Game and fishermen to mutually agree on measures designed to promote healthy lobster populations and maintaining fishing as business and way of life.
Doug Neilson 2013 Roger Revelle Co-Recipient
Doug is currently and Environmental Scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) working on spiny lobster related issues. He wrote the Department’s spiny lobster stock assessment and is now helping to create the lobster fishery management plan. While at the Department, he was co-principal investigator on a lobster tracking study in San Diego Bay for the Port Authority and studied the catch efficiency of two styles of hoop nets popular with the recreational lobster fishery. He is also co-principal investigator on a state funded Marine Protected Area baseline study of lobster abundance. This study brings academics, managers, commercial fishermen, and volunteers from SDOF together as a team to measure the lobster population both inside and outside the State’s newly established network of protected areas. Prior to working for the CDFW, Doug was an ecosystem modeler with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and taught ecology and environmental science at CSU, Long Beach.
A firm believer in outreach, he has given numerous talks on lobster to local dive and angler clubs, volunteered as a tidepool interpreter, and paid for most of his undergraduate education by helping staff the CSULB Mobile Science Museum which brought hands-on science and a tidepool touch tank to grade schools across Los Angeles County. He was the 2012 recipient of the CDFW Marine Region’s Frances Clark Award for Excellence in Marine Science.
Andrew Spurgin 2012 Roger Revelle Recipient
Andrew Ryland Spurgin is equal parts innovator, role model, and inspired chef. He is also tireless. Andrew is a chef/partner at Campine “A Culinary + Cocktail Conspiracy;” and has co-founded Passionfish, a nonprofit devoted to ocean education; Cooks Confab, a group of dynamic and civic-minded San Diego chefs; and The Culinary Liberation Front, “culinarians joining forces in our community to promote environmental initiatives.” Andrew sits on the Advisory Boards of Catering magazine and Event Solutions magazine, the Board of Trustees of the International Catering Association’s Educational Program, and is an Associate Board Member of the Slow Food Convivium San Diego. He assisted in the development of Blue Ocean Institute’s “Green Chefs Blue Ocean” program, a national curriculum addressing sustainable seafood education forculinary students and continuing education for chefs. He is also a past member of the Director’s Cabinet for Scripps Institution of Oceanography and E.W. Scripps Associate.
Andrew has produced and designed menus and events throughout the United States and in Canada, England, and Mexico. He regularly lectures on event design and culinary responsibility and has been featured in numerous local and national media. In 2011, San Diego Home & Garden inducted Andrew into the Chefs Hall of Fame while San Diego Magazine named him as 50 People to Watch. He has been named National Caterer of the Year by the Spotlight Award, Best Caterer in the West by the coveted ACE Award, and consistently wins accolades as the Best Caterer in San Diego.
Dr. Ed Parnell 2010 Roger Revelle Recipient
The San Diego Oceans Foundation is pleased to award the 2010 Perpetual Roger Revelle Award to Ed Parnell in recognition for his contributions in promoting ocean stewardship. Ed grew up in San Diego cutting his teeth on the snorkel given to him by his big sister for his fourth birthday. He’s been hooked on everything marine ever since spending much of his youth fishing and diving. Despite professing to be an adult, not much has changed, because Ed turned his passion into a career as a research scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His research interests encompass the ecology of coastal shelf environments focusing on the interaction between the fluid environment and the biology of these ecosystems and the effects we are having on the coastal zone.
As an avid ocean user who embraces its integrity, aesthetic nature, and beauty, Ed is an advocate of wise ocean stewardship based on sustainable human practices that affect the oceans including our use of the watersheds that drain into it, the re-engineering of its margins, the pollutants that settle into it from the atmosphere, the sewage we discharge into it, the food that we rely on from it, and all the services that it faithfully provides us.
Previous Roger Revelle Honorees
2012 Mr. Andrew Ryland Spurgin
2010 Dr. Ed Parnell
2009 Howard and Michele Hall
2008 Paul Dayton
2007 H.P. “Sandy” Purdon
2006 Mr. Dick Long
2005 Mrs. Leigh Taylor Johnson
2004 San Diego’s Think Blue Team: Ernie Anderson, Karen Henry, Deborah Castillo
2003 Mr. John Robertus
2002 Captain, Charles Bishop (ret)
2001 Mr. James R. Stewart
2000 Dr. Walter H. Munk
1999 Dr. Andreas Rechnitzer
1998 Mr. Arthur DeFever
1997 Mr. Milton Shedd
1996 Dr. James Joseph
1995 Mr. Frank Powell
1994 Mr. F. Seth Brown
1993 Mr. Robert Fletcher
1992 Mr. Peter Seligman
1991 Dr. Joy Zedler
1990 Dr. John Hunter
1989 Dr. Edward Goldberg
1988 Dr. William Evans