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Dr. Mary R. Brooks, professor emerita in the Rowe School of Business, has just been named Chair of the Marine Board of the U.S. National Academies. Brooks began her two-year term as Chair on November 1.

An expert in transportation, Brooks will apply her knowledge and experience to the position chairing the Marine Board, to which she has belonged since 2008. This body provides advice on the ability of American marine and maritime industries to operate safely, efficiently and in an environmentally responsible way. As well as responding to requests for evaluation and advice, the Board acts on its own initiative to identify research needs in the field. It also provides a forum for discussions about various matters relevant to marine transportation, port operations, coastal engineering and marine governance.

Brooks taught in the Rowe School from 1979 until her retirement in 2013. During that time she amassed numerous honours and awards, including a Canada–US Fulbright Scholarship, the Rowe School’s A. Gordon Archibald teaching award, a place on the 2006 Women’s Executive Network list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, and various commendations for papers and conference presentations. For the last 20 years before her retirement, Brooks held the William A. Black Chair of Commerce in the Rowe School; she also contributed as Director of the Centre for International Business Studies (now the Centre for International Trade and Transportation) and has a prolific list of publications and presentations in her academic field.

Brooks now acts as a transportation consultant for government and private organizations. She continues to serve on various boards and councils and to contribute to government policy work.

The Marine Board work, says Brooks, covers a broad range of administration and research, which she aims to expand in her new role as Chair. “We hope to add autonomous vessels to our nine other key research areas this fall,” says Brooks. “I am really honoured to have been asked to play this role, and excited as well.”