OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) - A longtime marine researcher at the University of Southern Mississippi will become the new director of the university’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
Dr. Joseph R. Hendon has been a research scientist at the university for 22 years. He most recently served as Gulf Coast Research Laboratory’s associate director.
The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory is a marine and coastal research and education center dedicated to studying the Gulf Coast’s ecosystem. It has operated for more than 70 years and spans 275 acres at two locations in Ocean Springs.
Hendon, a native of Jackson, said he is honored to have been made director. Gulf Coast Research Laboratory provides the university “a unique gateway” to the Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico, Henson said.
No other university in Mississippi has its own marine laboratory, Hendon said. The facility is also one of the largest marine laboratories on the Gulf.
“The breadth of our research, which literally spans from genetics to whale sharks to entire ecosystems, is unsurpassed,” he said.
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