The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scientific Steering Committee (OCB SSC) was formed in February 2006. The OCB SSC was created jointly by NSF, NASA and NOAA to provide critical leadership to the OCB community by helping to identify research priorities and promote, plan, and coordinate collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities in ocean biogeochemistry. SSC members serve a term of three years. Parentheses indicate term end (end of calendar year) for each member.
Jeff Bowman (SIO) (2024) - microbial ecology, bioinformatics, coastal and high latitude ecosystems, modeling
Randelle Bundy (UW) (2023) - cycling of bioactive trace metals, chemical speciation of iron, copper, nickel and cobalt, impacts on microbial community structure in the ocean, connecting trace metals with productivity and the carbon cycle
Dreux Chappell (USF) (2025) (Vice Chair)- molecular microbial ecology, phytoplankton cultivation/physiology, and trace metal biogeochemistry
Anela Choy (Scripps Inst. Oceanography) (2025) - Deep-sea biological oceanography, water column food web ecology, pelagic ecosystem dynamics, biochemical tracers
Victoria Coles (UMCES) (2023) (Chair) - observation and modeling of ocean and estuarine circulation; climate impact; biogeochemical, ecological, and genomic modeling
Susanne Craig (NASA GSFC) (2024) - satellite RS, bio-optics, machine learning techniques and ocean color algorithm development
Tim DeVries (UCSB) (2024) - carbon cycle modeling (bio & solub pumps), inverse modeling of ocean circulation and mixing, carbon sequestration/Ocean CDR
Zachary Erickson (early career) (NOAA PMEL) (2024) - biophysical interactions
Xinping Hu (Texas A&M Univ-Corpus Christi) (2023) - estuarine carbon cycle under changing climate conditions and marginal sea acidification
Jessica Luo (NOAA/GFDL) (2025) - plankton ecology, food webs, biogeochemical dynamics, global-scale marine ecosystem models
Susanne Menden-Deuer (URI) (2023) - marine planktonic food web structure and function, plankton ecology
David “Roo” Nicholson (Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.) (2025) - global biogeochemical cycles in the context of a changing climate, cycling of dissolved gases, including oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane and the noble gases
Emily Osborne (NOAA/AOML) (2023) - ocean biogeochemistry, emphasis on evaluating ocean carbon dynamics and associated impacts to calcifying marine organisms, ocean observations, climate change impacts, paleoclimate
Shaily Rahman (Univ Colorado, Boulder) (2024) - marine biogeochemistry and sedimentary processes
Yige Zhang (Texas A&M University) (2025) - paleoceanography and paleoclimatology; organic and stable isotope geochemistry; global biogeochemical cycles















View OCB SSC Charge and OCB SSC Terms of Reference
View history of OCB SSC membership (2006-present).
View recent SSC minutes - 2022 SSC minutes, 2021 SSC minutes (to view SSC minutes prior to 2020, please contact Heather Benway)