New director of Sea Grant Institute, Water Resources Institute chosen | People

University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School Dean Martin Cadwallader has appointed of James P. Hurley as the new director of the Aquatic Sciences Center, effective May 1.       

The Aquatic Sciences Center, housed in the Graduate School, is the administrative home of two federal-state programs-the Sea Grant Institute and Water Resources Institute.

The institutes support research, education and outreach to protect and sustainably use Wisconsin's 1.2 quadrillion gallons of groundwater and 6.4 million acres of Lakes Michigan and Superior.

Hurley is returning to the center after a just more than a year as the director of the Environmental Health Division of the State Lab of Hygiene. Hurley was at ASC from 1998 to 2010, filling the role of assistant director for research and outreach at the time of his departure.

"I'm excited to be back," Hurley said in a news release. "I had developed such a great network of people in Wisconsin and beyond during the years I was here before. You don't always realize how lucky you are to work with these talented people until you're disconnected from them."

Hurley holds a Ph.D. in water chemistry from UW-Madison. He has worked extensively on the impact of mercury in northern Wisconsin lakes, the Great Lakes and the Everglades. Hurley chaired several regional and national Sea Grant committees and was a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, which developed a risk assessment for U.S. mercury emissions in 2011.

In addition to his director position, Hurley will hold a 25 percent faculty appointment.

Hurley will take over the center from longtime director Anders Andren, who will work through a transition period and depart on June 30.