Vice President-Research
Dr. Denis Wiesenburg
Dr. Denis Wiesenburg serves as the vice president for Research at The University of Southern Mississippi.
From July 2004 to May 2010, Wiesenburg served as dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, overseeing a research enterprise comprising 65 faculty, 80 research and support staff and 135 graduate students spread over 13 locations throughout Alaska.
In his last fiscal year, the school received more than $25 million in new research funding, 20 percent of the university total.
At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Wiesenburg was part of a team that developed a successful $199.5 million proposal to the National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of an Arctic research vessel that is now under construction in Marinette, Wis. The 254-foot research vessel Sikuliaq will be able to break up to 2.5 feet of ice and will take up to 26 scientists on studies of ice-covered waters.
In Alaska, Wiesenburg also received a $5 million grant from the Anchorage-based Rasmuson Foundation to reinvigorate the fisheries degree programs at the university.
A seasoned researcher in oceanography, Wiesenburg has been personally involved as a principal investigator on 10 separate research projects accounting for more than $213.5 million in funding since 2002. Among his numerous professional activities, he also has more than 130 publications, reports and presentations to his credit.
From 1994 to 2004, Wiesenburg was chair of the Department of Marine Science at Southern Miss, where he was instrumental in working with the U.S. Navy to develop the master’s degree in hydrographic science.
His research in chemical oceanography involved studies of nutrient dynamics on the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. He also was instrumental in obtaining funding for the Southern Miss Hydrographic Science Research Center based at the Stennis Space Center.
A 1970 graduate of Duke University, Wiesenburg earned a master’s degree in oceanography from Old Dominion University in 1975. He completed his doctorate in oceanography at Texas A&M University in 1980 and served as associate director of the university’s Geochemical and Environmental Research Group from 1988-94 in College Station, Texas.
He previously was an oceanographer with the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity at Stennis Space Center from 1981-88.
He is married to Jean Wiesenburg, and they have two grown children, Vanessa and Heath.
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About the VP-Research
The vice president for research:
- promotes and monitors scholarship within the university community
- signs off on all externally funded projects administered by Southern Miss
- assists the members of the instructional staff in their scholarly endeavors
- presides over all administrative proceedings relating to research, creative activities and scholarship
- coordinates institutional planning
- collaborates with the provost in advising the university president on personnel actions involving members of the academic staff
Advised by the University Research Council, the vice president has direct supervisory responsibility for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. The vice president serves as a liaison between the university and research institutes, foundations, government agencies and industry, ensuring compliance with government regulations.