This year, Dan Costa was appointed to the Ida Benson Lynn Endowed Chair in Ocean Health. An anonymous donor and her husband established the chair to honor her mother's love of the ocean. Generous proceeds from the endowment support graduate student research and activities that help the public understand the research.
The funds will enable doctoral candidate Stella Villegas to complete her dissertation research comparing California sea lion foraging behavior and physiology.
Costa will use the public service funds to expand a Seymour Marine Discovery Center exhibit on marine predator tagging research.
"I find it increasingly useful to communicate our research to the public," Costa said, "and the chair will help further that goal."
For information on endowed chairs in the physical and biological sciences, contact Jeffrey Kongslie at (831) 459-4240 or kongslie@ucsc.edu.
