Charles Yarish
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology |
 |
Professor Charles Yarish received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1976 and then joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 1976. While at the University of Connecticut, he developed an internationally known laboratory for seaweed research and has been a leader in the development of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA).
In 2008, Prof. Yarish has been elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering. He has published extensively including two co-edited books entitled "Economically Important Marine Plants of the Atlantic: Their Biology and Cultivation" and also "Seaweeds-Their Environment, Biogeography and Ecophysiology." He has also been an adjunct Professor of Marine Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a visiting Scientist at the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Germany, a visiting Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and most recently, a Guest Professor at Shanghai Fisheries University, PR China.
He has served with many organizations including the International Executive Service Corps' Aquacultural Project in Kenya, member of the Organizing Committee & the Executive Secretariat for the Vth International Phycological Congress, Qingdao, People's Republic of China and The Advisory Board of the Institute of BioSciences, National Research Council of Canada. Prof. Yarish received the 1992 Marinalg Award's First Prize at the XIVth International Seaweed Symposium, Brittany, France for his work in East Africa (Kenya) judged to be the most useful to the economic development of the world seaweed industry. He has also been a national lecturer for the Phycological Society of America, its Secretary, and member of the Society's Executive Committee. He was the Vice President, President (2001) and Past President of the Phycological Society of America. He has been an invited participant in many international invited symposia and meetings in Canada, Chile, Germany, Ireland, Japan, People’s Republic of China, Mexico, Portugal, South Korea, The Netherlands and the U.SA., which have dealt with the ecophysiology and biogeography of seaweeds, as well as the development of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems.
Prof. Yarish has also ventured beyond is primary interests in seaweeds into a multi-team effort to conduct the first, comprehensive, seasonal field study of the microbial loop in Long Island Sound. That avenue of research demonstrated that human-induced nutrient loading coupled with intense fishing pressure and habitat destruction have literally altered the food web of Long Island Sound. He was the elected Co-Chairman of the Science Technical Advisory Committee for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Long Island Sound Study (18 years) and has assisted the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce on matters dealing with aquaculture in the People's Republic of China, South Korea and Japan. He was the Science Co-Chair for the 31st Meetings of the United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resource (UJNR) Panel, Yokohama and northeast Honshu, Japan, in 2002.
Among other memberships in many professional societies, he is also a member of the Advisory Board for the City of Bridgeport's Regional Vocational Aquaculture High School. He has been a co-principal investigator numerous grants award by the National and Connecticut Sea Grant College Programs, as well as The State of Connecticut. In August, 2007 he was the recipient of The 2007 Faculty Recognition Award, which recognizes sustained outstanding achievements in teaching, research and services benefiting University of Connecticut at Stamford. He is a also a member on the scientific advisory committee of a national panel, “The Sustainable Seafood Forum,” Aquarium of the Pacific, Marine Conservation Research Institute, Long Beach, California. Elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.