Associate Director for Extension David Hart retires after more than 32 years
David Hart, University of Wisconsin–Madison Aquatic Sciences Center associate director for extension, is riding off into retirement after more than three decades
of outreach work in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes Basin, and nationally.
Over the years David has been involved in research, outreach, and education supporting sustainable coastal development along the Great Lakes. What this often entailed is David’s real love — working with maps. David worked with maps as often as he could during his tenure at the center, including developing methods for discovery, acquisition, integration, and analysis of local geospatial data, which were used in coastal management decision-making at a local and regional scale.
David’s love of maps didn’t stop there. While there are too many of David’s accomplishments to list, some examples include supporting NOAA’s Coastal Services Center’s map-based visualization tool, used for adaptive management of coastal hazards related to changing Great Lakes water levels; providing outreach to coastal communities to better understand and plan for changing weather patterns; building “geotools” that demonstrate the value of a spatial narrative to promote stewardship of coastal ecosystems; and supporting NOAA’s Digital Coast Partnership on development of the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Planning Guide.
“We couldn’t be happier for David as he takes this next big step in his life, but we are of course also very sad to see him leave. David has meant the world to this organization — his mapping and GIS skills, extensive knowledge of coastal issues, and his leadership with staff and as a wonderful mentor to so many students have helped shape not only who we are today but where we are going over the next several years. We will miss him greatly!”
Before joining the ASC, David was an outreach specialist for the UW–Madison Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility and a city and coastal zone planner in New Orleans and Louisiana’s St. Charles Parish. He has also taught many students over his career, including at UW–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and the Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory.
Congratulations David!
The UW–Madison Aquatic Sciences Center administers Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, and Water@UW–Madison. The center supports multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach for the protection and sustainable use of Wisconsin’s water resources. Wisconsin Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of marine resources through research, education, outreach, and technology transfer.