Bonny Marcellino, assistant director for administration at Maryland Sea Grant, has retired after 15 years of service.

Marcellino's tenure was marked by several initiatives to modernize the administrative systems that enable Maryland Sea Grant to support research, education, and outreach about coastal resources. Under her leadership, the program was an early adopter of new tools in electronic systems and grants and data management.

For example, Marcellino worked closely with our IT and research staff to develop software for online proposal development, submission, review, and approval that was heralded for its innovation in the Sea Grant network. In addition, Marcellino's success in electronic management was nationally recognized and led Maryland Sea Grant to be one of a handful of programs selected by NOAA to test a beta version of a new evaluation tool, which evolved into the agency's National Information Manage-ment System (NIMS) and later the Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation Resources (PIER) system.

"She was innovative and a terrific administrator, one of the finest I've worked with across many different jobs," said Fredrika C. Moser, director of Maryland Sea Grant. "We will miss her expertise and professionalism and the critical role she played in grants management for our program."

Marcellino completed a total of 32 years of service at the University of Maryland, of which Maryland Sea Grant is a part. She worked in other capacities before joining us in 1997.

Maryland Sea Grant has named Michael Allen as its new assistant director for research. Allen, who served since 2012 as the college's research and education coordinator, will bring years of experience as a research administrator and freshwater ecologist to the position.

Allen will oversee the management of Maryland Sea Grant's diverse research portfolio, which includes studies to better understand the dynamics of the -Chesapeake Bay and its watersheds and the sustainable use of Maryland's natural resources.

He will also manage the college's graduate research fellowships and its summer research program for undergraduates, Research Experiences for Undergrad-uates (REU). Each year the REU program- places promising undergraduate students from across the country in research labs on the Chesapeake Bay to work with scientist mentors to design and conduct their own research projects.

Allen hopes to expand Maryland Sea Grant's outreach to undergraduate and graduate students, particularly to people who traditionally have been underrepresented in the marine science community, such as women and members of minority groups.

Before joining Maryland Sea Grant, Allen worked in two positions at the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA). As a Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, he served as an analyst for the agency's Office of Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes. Later he worked as a contractor in the agency's Office of Planning, Policy, and Evaluation. He developed national research policies and programs for the agency and coordinated a 150-person workshop in Florida to explore the science behind the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Allen received his Ph.D. in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2009.