UH scientist earns election into National Academy
University of Hawaii oceanographer David Karl's colleagues could not wait to congratulate him for receiving one of the highest honors for an American scientist or engineer.
Scientists in ecology, microbiology, geophysics and oceanography sections of the National Academy of Sciences began calling him at 2:54 a.m. recently to congratulate him after his election to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.
"As soon as I went back to sleep, another group called me up," he said.
Karl, one of the nation's leading biological oceanographers, is a professor in the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology at UH-Manoa and runs a Laboratory for Microbial Oceanography.
"One of the things I pride myself on," he said in a recent interview, "I'm home-grown, if you will. This is the only place I've been since I got my Ph.D. My entire career has a UH stamp on it."
He said election to the elite national academy "is indeed a great honor. I'm overwhelmed, especially since this award comes from your peers and senior colleagues. It's a fellowship in that sense."
And it is "a living honor," he said. "It goes after your death."
He was told that a year after election to the academy, a new member signs a book with signatures, photographs and biographies of members since the 1860s. "That becomes your legacy."
Karl also is creating a legacy in knowledge of microbial life in the seas.
Klaus Keil, interim dean of SOEST, said: "Dr. Karl's research on microorganisms in the ocean has vastly increased the world's realization of just how vital the seas are to the health of our planet.
"He's just an absolutely outstanding researcher, extremely well deserving of this honor."
Among his many honors and awards over the years, Karl was the first oceanographer selected for a $3.85 million Investigator in Marine Science Award in 2004 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution gave him its highest award in oceanography in 2004, recognizing "accomplishments that have revolutionized our view of microorganisms in the sea."
He was designated the Chancellor's Distinguished Lecturer of Louisiana State University last September. In November he received the David Packard Medal from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute for achievements and leadership in his field.
He has been a principal investigator in the Hawaii Ocean Time-series program resulting in a number of discoveries at Station Aloha, an ocean site north of Oahu.
Karl joined UH as an assistant professor of oceanography in 1978 after earning a doctorate degree in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California. He was promoted to professor of oceanography in 1987.
Astronomer David Jewitt, with the Institute for Astronomy, was elected last year. Only six other UH-Manoa scientists have lifetime memberships to the academy: Ryuzo Yanagimachi, professor of anatomy and reproductive biology; George Herbig, IFA astronomer; Douglas Oliver, professor emeritus of anthropology; and the late Hampton Carson, professor emeritus of genetics and molecular biology. Steven Stanley, professor of geology and geophysics, was elected to the academy while at Johns Hopkins University.