Allen Burton is the newly appointed Director of NOAA's Cooperative Institute of Limnology and Ecosystem Research and a Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Recently, he was Professor and Chair of the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department at Wright State University, in Dayton, Ohio. While at WSU he directed the Institute for Environmental Quality, started the PhD program in Environmental Sciences, and was the Brage Golding Distinguished Professor of Research. His research on aquatic ecosystem stressors has taken him to all seven continents and Visiting Scientist positions in New Zealand, Italy and Portugal.