Dr Scott Glenn is Professor and Co-Director of the Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (COOL), at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University.
Prof Glenn has established a long history of integrated research and teaching, using ocean observatories to bring the ocean into the classroom. He has designed and implemented sustained real-time ocean observation and forecast systems: (a) for offshore oil exploration at Shell Oil Company (1983-1986), (b) for the Naval Oceanography Command supporting fleet operations while at Harvard University (1986-1990), and (c) since 1990, for a wide range of scientific and societal applications at Rutgers University.
Prof Glenn is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over $90 million in past and present research grants, and has co-authored over 140 publications. He serves the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) community as a member of the Board of Directors and PI for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS), and as a steering committee member for the U.S. National HF Radar Network. He is also the PI of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Slocum Glider Technology Center, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Center for Secure and Resilient Maritime Commerce (CSR), a DHS Science and Technology Center of Excellence, as well as a number of other national committees.
He recently received the Rutgers Team Award for collaborative research, the Naval Research Lab Collaboration Award for helping to focus future Naval oceanographic research to support the United States Navy warfighter operating in the littoral zone, and the DHS Science and Technology Impact Award for Rutgers’ role in coordinating the U.S. IOOS response to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.
Prof Glenn is co-PI for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-Networked Ocean World (COSEE-NOW), a science advisor for the NOAA Ocean Sciences K-12 Curriculum Sequence, and a collaborating scientist and teacher for the NSF Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) course. In recognition of this work, he received the first Rutgers Scholar-Teacher Award for combining research and education, and was recognized by NSF as 1 of 10 scientists making an impact on ocean sciences education.
In 2009, Prof Glenn led an international team of scientists and students that navigated the first autonomous underwater glider across an ocean basin. The robotic glider known as RU27, the Scarlet Knight, is now on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The mission was documented in the award-winning feature length film Atlantic Crossing: A Robot’s Daring Mission, shown nationwide on PBS. In 2010, he was named New Jersey Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He is now the PI of the NSF Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI) Education and Public Engagement (EPE) Implementing Organization (IO). His own Ocean Observatories undergraduate research course sequence, focused on the use of autonomous underwater gliders in regional, polar and global observatories, has grown to over 70 students.
Prof Glenn is now Chief Scientist for the Challenger Glider Mission, a coordinated fleet of gliders operated by an international team of scientists and students with the goal of revisiting the historic 1870’s scientific circumnavigation of the globe by the HMS Challenger.