Nancy Foster

Nancy Foster was born in Electra, Texas, received her undergraduate degree from Texas Woman's College, and went on to earn a master's degree in marine biology from Texas Christian University.{{Cite news|title=Nancy Foster Dies at 59|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/06/29/nancy-foster-dies-at-59/b05ee85c-e52b-4925-bac7-dd6dfeb3d50d/|access-date=2022-01-13|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web|last=Cole|first=Linda|date=2000|title=A scientist and pioneer remembered|url=https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/media/file/iz-no-bones-aug-2000.pdf|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=No Bones Newsletter Smithsonian Institution}} She earned her Ph.D. in marine biology from George Washington University in 1969.{{Cite thesis|title=On the Spionidae (Polychaeta) of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26647435|date=1969|language=English|first=Nancy Marie|last=Foster|oclc = 26647435}} A Smithsonian associate in the late 1960s while at George Washington, she conducted a portion of her dissertation research with Meredith Leam Jones{{Cite journal|last=Foster|first=Nancy M.|date=1971|title=Notes on Spionid (Polychaeta) Setae|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3224895|journal=Transactions of the American Microscopical Society|volume=90|issue=1|pages=34–42|doi=10.2307/3224895|jstor=3224895|issn=0003-0023|url-access=subscription}} and Marian H. Pettibone at the Smithsonian Institution. She wrote several papers on polychaetes at George Washington.

Foster worked at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service In 1969, while still associated with the Smithsonian Institution she became chair of the biology department at Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, a position she held into the 1970s.{{Cite web|title=Nancy Foster Geraci, 59, coast conservation champion|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2000-06-29-0006290187-story.html|access-date=2022-01-15|website=Baltimore Sun|date=29 June 2000 |language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Foster|first=Nancy|date=1972|title=Biota of Freshwater Ecosystems Identification Manual 4: Freshwater Polychaetes (Annelida) of North America|url=https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9100ULY3.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=Prior%20to%201976&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D:%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C70THRU75%5CTXT%5C00000015%5C9100ULY3.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=2|access-date=2022-01-15|website=nepis.epa.gov|language=en}} Her students included Cynthia Ahearn.

Foster joined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1977, working in its Research and Development Office. She was the director of the Office of Protected Resources in NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from 1986 until 1993, subsequently advancing to the position of deputy assistant administrator of the NMFS by 1997. While at the NMFS, she established NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office in Annapolis, Maryland, and NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation.

After leaving the NMFS, Foster was the director of NOAA's National Ocean Service from 1997 until her death in 2000.{{cite web|title=Dr. Nancy Foster|url=http://fosterscholars.noaa.gov/aboutnf.html|work=Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program|access-date=2007-07-07}} As director, she led a reorganization of the NMFS and to make it into a more efficient, responsive, and scientifically rigorous agency and also created the NOAA Habitat Restoration Center and the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank.

Foster is known for her work in the protection of fish habitats and coastal environments, and spoke to the United States Congress about research conducted in United States National Marine Sanctuaries.{{Cite web|date=January 1, 1998|title=Research being conducted in national marine sanctuaries|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-105hhrg51770/html/CHRG-105hhrg51770.htm|access-date=2022-01-17|publisher=United States Government Printing Office}}

Foster died of a brain tumor at her home in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 27, 2000, at the age of 59. Upon her death Senator Fritz Hollings published a tribute in the Congressional Record to honor Foster's contributions to marine science.{{Cite web|date=June 28, 2000|title=Tribute to Dr. Nancy Foster|url=https://www.congress.gov/106/crec/2000/06/28/CREC-2000-06-28-pt1-PgS6008.pdf|publisher=Government Printing Office|page=12862|volume=146|issue=Part 9}}

File:NOAAS Nancy Foster.jpgIn 1993, Foster received a Department of Commerce Gold Medal. In 1997, Foster was the first recipient of the Dr. Nancy Foster Award for Habitat Conservation, given to her in recognition of her work in establishing the Office of Habitat Conservation.In 1999, she received a Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service.{{Cite web|last=Group|first=NOAA Women's Employee Resource|date=2020-10-30|title=In Their Own Words: Women Doing NOAA's Work|url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/195aeab2319944d8b2dfa7ff069c2f3a|access-date=2022-01-17|website=ArcGIS StoryMaps|language=en}}

In 2000, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) honored Foster by creating a scholarship program in her name for women and members of minority groups.https://fosterscholars.noaa.gov/ The Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program was signed into law on November 13, 2000.Congressional Record, V. 146, Pt. 12, July 27, 2000 to September 13, 2000|Publisher:Government Printing Office, 2005.United States Code. Supplement III. p. 293 In the spring of 2000, NOAA's Dr. Nancy Foster Florida Keys Environmental Center was named in Foster's honor and funded through the U.S. Department of Commerce,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Marine Fisheries Service budget requests for fiscal year 2002: oversight hearing before the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans of the Committee on Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, May 3, 2001, Volume 4. United States Congress. House Committee on Resources. Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans. U.S. G.P.O., 2002. and she received the Fred M. Packard Award in 2000 to recognize her work in establishing marine protected areas.{{Cite web|date=2016-02-19|title=Packard Awardees|url=https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-protected-areas/about/awards/prix-fred-packard-contribution-exceptionnelle/packard-awardees|access-date=2022-01-17|website=IUCN|language=en|archive-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008032708/https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-protected-areas/about/awards/prix-fred-packard-contribution-exceptionnelle/packard-awardees|url-status=dead}}

{{ship|NOAAS|Nancy Foster|R 352}}, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel, was commissioned on May 10, 2004.{{Cite web|title=Specifications {{!}} Office of Marine and Aviation Operations|url=https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/marine-operations/ships/nancy-foster/about/specifications|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.omao.noaa.gov}} The Nancy Foster was originally built as a Navy yard torpedo test craft, Agate Pass (YTT 12), at McDermott Shipyards in Amelia, Louisiana, and launched in September 1990.{{Cite web|title=Torpedo Trials Craft (YTT)|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/14/5012.htm|access-date=2022-01-17|website=NavSource}} In 2001, the Navy transferred the vessel to NOAA, outfitted to conduct coastal research along the United States East and Gulf Coasts and in the Caribbean.

While a Smithsonian associate in the 1960s, Foster met and married Roger Cressey. They later divorced. Foster's later marriage to Jerry Cramer also ended in divorce. She married Joseph R. Geraci in May 2000.

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• [http://www.Fosterscholars.NOAA.gov Nancy Foster Scholarship Program]

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Category:American marine biologists

Category:Women marine biologists

Category:People from Baltimore

Category:People from Electra, Texas

Category:Texas Woman's University alumni

Category:Texas Christian University alumni

Category:George Washington University alumni

Category:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration personnel

Category:Year of birth missing

Category:2000 deaths