Kate Moran

Dr. Kathryn (Kate) Moran joined the University of Victoria in September 2011 as a professor in the Faculty of Sciences and as Director of NEPTUNE Canada. In 2012, she was promoted to the position of President & CEO, Ocean Networks Canada. Since then, she has grown that organization following the vision of enhancing life on Earth by providing knowledge and leadership that deliver solutions to science, society, and industry.

Dr. Moran previously served as a professor at the University of Rhode Island, where she spearheaded a research initiative on offshore renewable energy and served as the Graduate School of Oceanography’s Associate Dean, Research and Administration. From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Moran was seconded to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she served as an Assistant Director and focused on Arctic, polar, ocean, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and climate policy issues. Dr. Moran co-led the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Arctic Coring Expedition, which was the first deepwater drilling operation in the Arctic Ocean. This expedition successfully recovered the first paleoclimate record from the Arctic Ocean. She also led one of the first offshore expeditions to investigate the sea floor following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Before that, Moran was a scientist at Canada’s Bedford Institute of Oceanography. She also served as Director of the international Ocean Drilling Program in Washington DC; managed mission-specific drilling platform operations in the North Atlantic and Arctic; designed and developed oceanographic tools; participated in more than forty offshore expeditions; and served on numerous national and international science and engineering advisory committees.

Dr. Moran is active in public outreach on topics related to the Arctic, ocean drilling, and climate change. Kate Moran TEDx Talk