Maury Werth Fellowship

Captain J. Maury Werth, USN (Ret.), endowed an annual award to a VIMS graduate student in honor of his great-grandfather Mathew Fontaine Maury, known as the Father of Oceanography and the Pathfinder of the Sea. The award supports graduate students studying physical oceanography or related interdisciplinary work.

"The purpose of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the School of Marine Science is essentially basic and applied research of the estuarine and marine environments on our small planet, and to offer educational opportunities to future scientists in these fields. These are related to the sciences of the seas invented in the mid-1800s by a young U. S. Navy Lieutenant, Mathew Fontaine Maury, my great-grandfather. As a young lad, I spent a couple of months on the enormous estuary of the Amazon River and began to wonder about river and ocean relationships. While I maintained this interest, it was not until after I retired that I had time to read the work of my great-grandfather and understand the significance of continuing scientific inquiry in marine-related areas. I have served on the VIMS Development Council since 1989 and am proud to be part of an institute that is devoted to the pursuit of new knowledge about our oceans and estuaries."

--Captain Maury Werth