Rodger Harvey to Travel to Norway on Fulbright Scholarship

July 24, 2017

Rodger Harvey

By Brendan O'Hallarn

Old Dominion University oceanographer Rodger Harvey has been selected as Norway's Distinguished Arctic Chair for 2017-18 under the renowned Fulbright Scholarship program.

Harvey, a professor in ODU's Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who served as department chair from 2011 to 2017, will travel this winter to the University of Tromso in the Scandinavian country, where he will work with colleagues on the sea ice research project ArcticSIZE.

On his Fulbright assignment, Harvey will collaborate with ArcticSIZE colleagues to study food web interactions, provide lectures about advanced food web tracer studies and interact with the Norwegian science community on Arctic marine system issues.

"We are enthusiastic ... for your academic exchange at associated institutions and programs as part of the Fulbright program and expect a very rewarding experience for you, our faculty and students," Rolf Gradinger, professor of the Arctic University of Norway and member of the ArcticSIZE group, wrote to Harvey in extending the Fulbright invitation.

Gradinger added that Harvey's expertise in organic biomarkers of previous ice extent will help him make valuable contributions to the ArcticSIZE project, allowing for relevant comparisons between the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Harvey's background will also allow geologists at the Arctic University of Norway to incorporate additional biological measures into studies of polar phytoplankton and their physiology, Gradinger said.

The ArcticSIZE program features a team of researchers from the United States, Russia, Canada and many other European countries.

Harvey is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach and research, as well as provide expertise, abroad during the 2017-18 academic year. Fulbright award winners were selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

Harvey, a noted researcher who joined Old Dominion in 2011, has played a key role in the University's Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative. He previously directed the Maryland Organic Geochemistry and Ecology Laboratory, which is part of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science.

Harvey also served as interim vice president for research at Old Dominion University in 2013-14.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by then-U.S. Sen. William Fulbright, the Fulbright Scholars program has provided opportunities to study, teach and do research for more than 370,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists, finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Fulbright honorees address critical global needs in all disciplines, while building international relationships, knowledge and leadership in the long-term interests of the United States. The ranks of Fulbright alumni include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, and 37 heads of state or government.