USA prof earns Navy YIP award

Dr. Kelly Dorgan of the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium and the University of South Alabama in Mobile was among 33 scientists named recipients of the Office of Naval Research’s 2017 Young Investigator Program (YIP) awards. The scientists’ researches – from 25 academic institutions - hold strong promise across several naval-relevant science and technology areas. Dr. Dorgan’s research on “Impacts of Infauna on Acoustic and Geotechnical Properties of Sediments” was winner in the Navy’s Ocean, Atmosphere and Space Research Division. The division is part of the Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department that concentrates on improving the Navy and Marine Corps' understanding of environmental evolution, the assimilation of data and limits of predictability. YIP awards support laboratory equipment, graduate student stipends and scholarships, and other expenses critical to ongoing and planned investigational studies. Typical grants are $510,000 over a three-year period. (Source: Office of Naval Research 02/17/17) Gulf Coast Note: Dr. Dorgan is an assistant professor of Marine Sciences and a faculty member at USA’s Dauphin Island (Ala.) Sea Lab.