ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNY
College at Oneonta announced that SUNY Distinguished Service
Professor
Willard Harman, Director of the College's
Biological Field
Station, has been appointed to the College's first endowed chair
position, the Rufus J. Thayer Chair for Otsego Lake Research.
The endowed chair, which Rufus Thayer created by bequest through
his will, is a research position for the continuation of Otsego Lake
water-quality monitoring and associated limnological and
hydrological research, such as that currently being done at the
Biological Field Station. The position at the College will be
supported in perpetuity with the revenue from the permanent
endowment fund that Mr. Thayer established for that purpose.
In one of the largest gifts ever made to the College, Rufus
Thayer, who is remembered for his vision for the preservation of
Otsego Lake and the surrounding watershed, left a significant
monetary bequest of nearly $1 million as well as over 250 acres of
land to the College at Oneonta Foundation for its Biological Field
Station endowment in 1999. He wanted others, especially young
people, to learn about the environment, and he respected and
appreciated the work done by the Biological Field Station.
The Thayer property, which includes about 100 acres of active
farmland and 164 acres of woodlands and fields on the northwestern
shore of Otsego Lake in Springfield, includes several buildings that
are being renovated for use as part of the College's educational and
research programs at the field station.
Dr. Harman, who is a Professor of Biology and an expert in the
ecology of freshwater lakes, has worked at the Biological Field
Station for nearly 40 years. He joined the SUNY-Oneonta faculty in
1968 after earning his doctorate in limnology from Cornell
University. He was honored with the SUNY Chancellor's Award for
Excellence in Teaching in 1975 and promoted to SUNY Distinguished
Service Professor in 2002.
Dr. Harman has conducted continuing studies of the ecology of
Otsego Lake and produced an annual "State of the Lake" report. His
research centers on aquatic, terrestrial, and limnological topics as
they relate to lake ecology and watershed management. He has studied
topics such as zebra mussels in the Susquehanna River Basin and
freshwater aquatic plants.
Dr. Harman is profiled in the 2001 book "Saving the Bay: People
Working for the Future of the Chesapeake." In 2004, he helped secure
a National Science Foundation award of $115,269 for the College to
acquire laboratory equipment for the Biological Field Station. Last
year, he coordinated a National Science Foundation grant of $125,442
to improve the College's facilities at the Biological Field Station.
He recently received another National Science Foundation grant of
$104,390 for the acquisition of hydroacoustic and associated
instrumentation for fisheries research at the Biological Field
Station.
College at Oneonta faculty and students in the sciences and
education use the Biological Field Station for their courses and
research, and the field station offers programs for area high school
students, visiting researchers, and community members. The main
laboratory is located on Otsego Lake, just north of the Farmer's
Museum in Cooperstown.
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