As you may have heard, changes are coming at the MARGINS Office. I am leaving the MARGINS Office early, in order to accept a rotator position at NSF as Director of the Ocean Sciences Division. Prof. Doug Wiens is serving as the Interim Chair of the Office, which will remain at Wash U until October. As many of you will know, Doug is a seismologist who has served on the MARGINS Steering Committee (MSC), ODP's ISSEP, the IRIS Board and the RIDGE Steering Committee. Doug will be ably assisted by Dr. Paul Wyer and Meredith Berwick, who have kept the MARGINS Office and website running so well over the last two and a half years. Doug is now officially the Interim Chair, and I will stay involved with MARGINS until my NSF job begins on April 24th. The MARGINS Office is due to rotate from Washington University in October, 2006, when it will move to Boston University, with Geoff Abers as the very able new Chair, serving from 2006 to 2009. Geoff is also a seismologist, very active in subduction zone studies in Alaska and Middle America. Geoff has been on the MARGINS Steering Committee for the last three years, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the job.

I'm both excited about the move to NSF and regretful to be leaving MARGINS early. In particular, I'm sorry that I won't be around to have hands-on participation in many of the upcoming workshops and other activities that the MSC and Office have been planning towards over the last two years. And I will miss the way that we've been able to work with many of you to showcase the exciting science that's coming out of MARGINS, and use it to accelerate integration and begin some education activities. I suspect that my work with MARGINS in science planning and management was an important credential for the NSF position, and I want to thank you all for your interest in MARGINS, your cooperation and your honesty about science and policy issues. I know that you'll extend that same level of involvement to Doug and Geoff.

Before closing, I want to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to Paul and Meredith, here in the MARGINS Office. They've done a superb job of implementing new programs and activities, while keeping up with all the routine day-to-day demands of the Office. Their independence and ability have made MARGINS work better for everyone.

Thanks again, and I'll see you soon at one meeting or another.

With best wishes,

julie