From sky high to ocean low, she explores climate change

Susan Avery has been director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution since February. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

Susan Avery speaks in a soft, conspiratorial voice as she opens doors to labs at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and stops to check out monitors streaming data on the world's oceans and pet a dog that is roaming a hallway. Then, she shows off a field of giant blue-and-yellow buoys that are just so cool looking that she just has to show you.

Avery, 58, has been director of the institute since February, but still has that pinch-yourself feeling about her new job, and the rare chance to tour her campus.

Her appointment was a landmark in two major ways: She is the first woman to hold the position of director in the institute's 78-year-history; and, though she's running one of the world's leading oceanographic research institutes, she is not an oceanographic scientist.

Avery has spent the last 26 years landlocked in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado studying the atmosphere. This, according to Avery, is much more significant than her gender; it is, she believes, a nod to the future, to a new century where the environment is going to be the chief issue in science, requiring a cross-disciplinary attack.

"The planet looks at all these disciplines together and responds together," said Avery, who wears glasses, a short haircut, and a perpetual expression of wonder. "The big issue with climate change is our ability as humanity to respond and adapt together. [I believe that hiring me] was a statement from this institute.

"When people think climate change, they think of the build-up of greenhouse gases, and it gets cast as an atmospheric issue. But the oceans are going to be absorbing a lot of it. The oceans are the memory of the climate system; the atmosphere is the messenger."

As she walks down a stairwell, Avery gets excited again because she's about to show off a Woods Hole exclusive: the world's only CT scanner dedicated to marine animals. The scanner is not being used, but her disappointment turns when Avery notices some X-rays on a light board and, curious, begins asking questions of a technician. The X-rays are of the skulls of two leatherback turtles - one is normal; the other was struck by something, possibly a ship's propeller. Avery winces for just a moment, and then offers the technician encouragement in attempting to decode the mystery of the turtle's demise.

This ability to combine science and people skills is, according to Marvin Gellar, a professor at New York's Stony Brook University and Avery's former doctorate adviser, what allows her to succeed in a leadership role at a scientific institution. (Before coming to Woods Hole, Avery had been the interim dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and was the former director of the school's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)

"She a very good scientist, but she's also a very excellent person to interact with," Gellar said. "You look forward to collaborating with her, which allows her to succeed in the culture of an institution. When I was writing her first recommendation when she was finishing her doctorate, I said that she had the tools to go far. I'm quite proud to be that prescient."

Avery sees the future of Woods Hole in its ability to translate its science, to bring hard facts to the table as a way to inform ocean management and policy. She wants to bring that big picture of environmental science into decisions on everything from freshwater and fisheries management to the role of oil and energy companies. And she thinks the time is right, that we've reached a tipping point of awareness on the interconnectedness of everything we do.

"There's a confluence that's coming together around the climate issue," she said. "The public is really understanding that we have a real challenge, that it's not just a scientific theory. It feels critical. And one of the challenges is making people aware of the impact of the oceans on their lives."

She paused for a moment to look past the institute's Quissett campus, out to the waters of Vineyard Sound.

"The ocean is such a part of New England," she said.

Avery said nothing for a few moments, then realized she'd gotten turned around. She looked at the buildings, looked at the different paths, and then flagged down a person walking by and asked him how to get back to her office.

She's still learning. That's exactly how she likes it.

Fact sheet

Hometown: Detroit; lives in a "quirky" 1880s cottage on the Woods Hole Village campus.

Education: Got her bachelor's in physics from Michigan State in 1972; at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne she earned a master's degree in physics and the school's first doctorate in atmospheric science, in 1978.

Family: Husband, Jim, is a computer engineer on the faculty of the University of Colorado-Boulder; son, Chris, 21, just finished his third year at Queens University in Ontario.

Hobbies: Avery sings and plays the flute, enjoys hiking and bicycling, and is a history buff.