Florida Sea Grant Management Office

Karl Havens

Karl E. Havens

Director

Professor, Fisheries
and Aquatic Sciences

PO Box 110400
Gainesville, FL 32611-0400
Phone: 352-392-5870
622-5870 (Suncom)
Fax: 352-392-5113

khavens@ufl.edu

Responsibilities

The Director provides leadership for strategic planning, program implementation, formation of strategic partnerships and investment of program resources. He is responsible for the objectivity, scientific rigor, responsiveness and impact of the Florida Sea Grant College Program. The Director represents the program and enhances its value to the citizens of Florida and the National Sea Grant College Program through effective communication with and engagement of state and federal agencies, non-profit institutions, elected officials and other decision makers, and the people of Florida who have an interest in the economic and environmental sustainability of Florida’s coastal systems.

Specialties

Dr. Havens has 25 years of professional experience in aquatic research, education and outreach, and has worked with Florida aquatic ecosystems and the use of objective science in their management for the past 15 years. His area of research specialty is plankton ecology and the eutrophication of lakes and estuaries. He is particularly interested in how natural and human-related stressors impact the structure and function of plankton and other components of shallow aquatic ecosystems.

Dr. Havens has published over 130 peer-reviewed journal articles in his area of expertise, several book chapters, a number of invited review papers and an edited book with colleagues in the P.R. China. He also has written papers dealing with integration of research and resource management and competencies that resource management agencies look for in new hires, as guidance for graduate education programs. He has research collaborations with scientists in Italy, Denmark, Brazil, Japan, China, Korea and the Netherlands. He is the founding editor of the electronic journal Freshwater Systems, and served as Associate Editor for Environmental Pollution for over 14 years. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Korean Journal of Limnology, and he recently became an Associate Editor for the international journal Hydrobiologia.

He is a recipient of the Edward Deevey, Jr. Award from the Florida Lake Management Society for his research dealing with Florida lake ecosystems. He is a member of the Florida Oceans and Coastal Resources Council, which provides the Florida Legislature with an annual research plan addressing critical coastal issues. He is a member of the Florida Ocean Alliance, a non-partisan organization dedicated to bringing together government, academic and private sectors in Florida to protect and enhance the coastal and ocean resources, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

Dr. Havens is a Professor in the UF/IFAS School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Program for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, where he serves on graduate committees, is conducting collaborative research related to effects of toxic algae blooms on river and estuary zooplankton, and teaches a course in plankton ecology.

Education

PhD, Biology, West Virginia University, 1984
MS, Biology, West Virginia University, 1981
BA, Biology, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1979