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Ambrose Jearld, Jr.

Since 1978, Ambrose Jearld, Jr., a charter member of and formal chair of the Woods Hole Black History Month Committee, has worked as a Fisheries Biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center's Woods Hole Laboratory. He is currently Chief of Research Planning and Coordination.

Since 1994, he has provided NOAA leadership on national and international affairs in South Africa. He has worked with Sea Fisheries, South Africa, to facilitate development and implementation of its strategic plan, organizational restructuring, and mandates for corrective actions dealing with human resources. And for more than a decade, he has been intricately involved in NOAA science and technical support for six West African countries around the Gulf of Guinea.

Ambrose has been a strong advocate of NOAA's commitment to diversity and equity in employment. He deeply supports NOAA's goal of maintaining a workplace in which all people are respected as individuals and valued for their contributions. His tenacity and diligence, in working with NOAA and Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions, have helped make oceanography and marine biology more accessible to minorities.

Prior to living and working in Massachusetts, Ambrose held professorial positions in Zoology at Howard University, Washington, DC and Biology at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.

Before taking his Masters, he was a chemist with Publicker Industries in Philadelphia for two years and between earning his M.S. and Ph.D., he was drafted during the Vietnam era to serve two years in the U.S. Army.

Ambrose is active in his community where he is a member of the St. Barnabas Memorial, Episcopal Church, the NAACP and the "Concerned Black Men of Cape Cod". He is a member of the Epsilon Gamma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc. and numerous professional and technical scientific societies, including the research society, Sigma Xi.