After nearly 11 “exciting” years of pioneering research, new programs and expanded partnerships that have helped bring La Jolla science to the world, Margaret Leinen will step down from her roles as UC San Diego’s vice chancellor for marine sciences, dean of the School of Marine Sciences and director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, effective June 30, 2025.
But even though she is stepping down, Leinen said she is committed to following SIO research projects and the oceanography field.
“I’ve been in oceanography my whole career,” she told the La Jolla Light. “I started as a geology major as an undergraduate, but we didn’t know a lot about the ocean and I had questions. So I went off to study oceanography with the intention of coming back to geology, but I never did.”
Drawn to SIO because of its connections to UC San Diego, Leinen was appointed vice chancellor, dean and the 11th director of Scripps Oceanography on Oct. 1, 2013. She was the institute’s first female director since its founding in 1903, though her appointment followed a one-year term during which professor of geophysics Cathy Constable served as interim director.
“The icing on the cake when I arrived was that [UCSD Chancellor] Pradeep Khosla had come here, but only been here a year, and really charted an exciting direction for the university as a whole,” Leinen said. “So to combine the most distinguished institutions in the world with one of the best universities in the world was a terrific opportunity.”
Leinen has worked to foster SIO’s relationship with other UCSD departments to bring oceanography into other fields and grow the undergraduate program.
“Twenty percent of our faculty have academic relationships with other parts of the university,” she said. “We developed the undergraduate program because people in general don’t know much about the ocean and how it is so incredibly important to other parts of their lives. I was really interested in ensuring people understood that the ocean touches every part of their life, even if they live in Iowa. So creating a generation of undergrads who understand the ocean and can bring that knowledge to other kinds of jobs was really important.
“We now see cities all over the world wanting environmental experts … to help them address questions of sea-level rise, sea lions, algal blooms.”
When Leinen started, the undergraduate program had 50 students in fields such as earth sciences and marine biology. Now, the program has 900 students in three different majors and one cross-campus program.
“They don’t come back and say ‘I can’t find a job,’” Leinen said. “They leave and go into other fields because they have a knowledge of the environment around them and how to use tools and how to do research. This is an enormous change that has taken place in the last decade.”
Leinen said she also is proud of the fact that SIO has taken on an international role in advising policymakers on issues such as how the ocean and climate are related, how the ocean’s biodiversity is changing, sea-level rise and more.
Two years ago, SIO led an effort with 15 other oceanographic institutions around the world to have a pavilion at a United Nations climate conference in Egypt to answer questions.
“We are using the capability we have to help the world, the nation, San Diego, deal with its issues,” Leinen said. “Partnerships have blossomed over the last decade with the county and the state. We have also developed predictive capabilities for issues that come up in places like the South Bay to better predict when sewage is going to be a problem.”
Other projects include working with CalFire to install more than 1,000 cameras in backcountry areas to monitor wildfires, collaborating with California cities near bluffs to monitor them for stability, and providing information to help with railroad placement.
“Governments at all levels are now realizing they need this information,” Leinen said. “So this has been an exciting time. But it hasn’t really been [because of] me — it’s the scientists that do all this amazing work. They just need someone to make it possible for them to do what they do. That’s what has been so incredibly satisfying, to provide the resources and capabilities so the scientists can do these amazing things.”
But some think Leinen doesn’t give herself enough credit.
“Margaret Leinen’s leadership and transformation of Scripps have been nothing short of remarkable and will go down in history as one of the most consequential for the institution, if not for all of ocean science,” said oceanographer Dawn Wright, chief scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, or Esri, and a member of the Scripps Director’s Council.
“Her tenure could not have come at a more important time, especially in helping Scripps to turn a corner where women and people of diverse cultures and backgrounds are concerned. She has been an inspiration and role model to many of us in ocean science.”
Khosla said Leinen’s leadership “has transformed the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the School of Marine Sciences, elevating UC San Diego’s reputation as a global leader in research and education. In particular, her unwavering commitment to understanding and addressing the climate crisis through interdisciplinary research has empowered a new generation of climate leaders who will carry the torch forward. She will be deeply missed, but her legacy will have a lasting impact on our university and the world at large.”
Looking to the future, Leinen said it will be up to everyone to play a part in understanding the ocean and its health.
“The ocean is … the flywheel of our climate and will affect every aspect of our life,” she said. “Future generations can play a role in ensuring that we understand what’s happening and how to use the resources of the ocean, its biodiversity and capabilities, the energy of the waves and tides for future energy use, and understand that as big as the ocean is, we have the ability to change it and have changed it.
“We have warmed the temperature of the ocean, we have polluted the ocean and we have changed ecosystems. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the ocean, and we all have a role to play.”
Change for the better is possible, she added.
“San Diego Bay used to be very polluted and San Diegans have taken all kinds of steps to reduce pollution. … We have done an amazing job,” she said. “That’s a great example of how we can come together as a community and take charge of making a new future for our ocean. It gives us the understanding that as big as the problem is, if we have the capacity to create the problem, we have the capacity to solve it.” ♦
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