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Responsibilities: Dr. McNutt is responsible for leading the Nation's largest water, earth, biological science and civilian mapping agency in its mission to provide the scientific data that enable decision makers to create sound policies for a changing world.

Career History and Highlights: Dr. McNutt previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), in Moss Landing, CA.

Dr. McNutt has participated in 15 major oceanographic expeditions and served as chief scientist on more than half of those voyages. She has published 90 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Her research has ranged from studies of ocean island volcanism in French Polynesia to continental break-up in the Western United States to uplift of the Tibet Plateau.

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded by the American Geophysical Union the Macelwane Medal in 1988 for research accomplishments by a young scientist and the Maurice Ewing Medal in 2007 for her significant contributions to deep-sea exploration.

Education: Dr. McNutt received a bachelor's in Physics from Colorado College and a doctorate in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.