Gary B. Griggs

GARY GRIGGS

Distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences

Director Institute of Marine Sciences

University of California Santa Cruz

Gary Griggs received his B.A. in Geological Sciences from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Oregon State University. He has been a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz since 1968 and was Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences from 1991 to 2017. His research and teaching have been focused on the coast of California and include coastal processes, hazards and engineering, and sea-level rise. Dr. Griggs has written over 210 articles for professional journals as well as authored or co-authored fourteen books.

In 1998 he was given the Outstanding Faculty Award at UC Santa Cruz and the Alumni Association honored him with a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006. The California Coastal Commission and Sunset Magazine named him one of California’s Coastal Heroes in 2009. He has served on three National Academy of Sciences Committees. He has served on the Science Advisory Team to the Governor’s Ocean Protection Council since 2008 and in 2015 was appointed to the California Ocean Sciences Trust.

Gary has had 1 full time job, has sailed around the world twice, has built 3 houses by hand and lived in 3 countries, has 5 children, traveled on 6 continents, works 7 days a week on something or another, has 8 grandchildren, used up 8 of his 9 lives on near-death experiences, and recently finished his 14th book, California Catastrophes: The Natural Disaster History of the Golden State.