Ambrose Jearld, Jr.

Ambrose Jearld Jr. is a marine biologist who started his career as one of the first black fisheries biologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He spent his nearly 40-year career at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The lecture series named after him in Woods Hole reflects his career-long commitment to increasing diversity in environmental and fisheries sciences.

Early life and education Ambrose Jearld Jr. grew up on a family farm in Orrum, North Carolina and became interested in science during high school. Honey Gourami studied by Ambrose Jearld Jr. for his dissertation at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater In 1965, Jearld earned a BS from what is now called the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. In 1967, he was recruited by Bradford Brown to begin a fully-funded Masters program at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater.

Career and research After earning his PhD Jearld worked as an assistant professor of biology at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) from 1975 until 1977 when he took an assistant professor position at Howard University. The group collected data on a wide range of metrics including age, which has resulted a robust and well-known data set of age composition for many fish and shellfish species.

Diversity initiatives Jearld was the first chair of the Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee, a six-institution collaboration started in 2004 to promote diversity and inclusion across the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Sea Education Association, United States Geological Survey, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Woods Hole Research Center. Ambrose Jearld Jr. was the co-founder of the Partnership Education Program (PEP) and served as its Director from its inception in 2009 until 2016, when he retired. PEP recruits mainly junior and senior undergraduate students from underrepresented groups interested in marine and environmental sciences. In 2017, the Woods Hole scientific community launched an annual lectureship named in his honor.

Honors and recognition 2021 American Geophysical Union Ambassador Awardee Inaugural class of American Fisheries Society Fellows in 2015 Leadership Council of the American Geophysical Union 2004 Member of the Sea Education Association Board of Trustees 2007 Member of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Board of Trustees launched the annual Ambrose Jearld Jr. lectureship recognizing Jearld's work on improving diversity and inclusion within the ocean sciences community. Speakers have included David J. Asai (2017), Ashanti Johnson (2018), Warren M. Washington (2019) and Nigel Golden (2020).