The new director of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS) hopes to expand the institute’s scope while at the same time preparing it for the future.Dr Bill Curry said yesterday that the Institute has been expanding beyond just biological research, and he hopes to continue that work.“I look at this transition that BIOS made, changing it’s name from the Bermuda Biological Station. The implication of that change is that it is a full marine research centre rather than a biological research station,” he said.“Trying to fulfill the goal of the name change is one of the things I hope to have a hand in doing. I think it’s an important thing to do and it’s the right thing to do.”Born in Philadelphia, Dr Curry said that his primary interest was geology, and while studying at Brown University he became enamoured with climate history.“At that time there was some really interesting work going on, trying to understand what caused the ice ages,” he said. “I was interested in geology, the history of the earth, and the topical question of what caused climate change was really fascinating.“The timescales of the climate problem have changed from the Ice Age question to now what is the influence of the carbon dioxide on the atmosphere. That’s an interesting question for the historical record.”“In long ice cores there are trapped gasses that tell us that CO2 levels changed in the atmosphere. Trying to put those things together made it a relevant topic for trying to understand climate sensitivity.”While working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he said he took on more management responsibilities in addition to his research.“I found that I started to like doing that, all while continuing to do science and loving it as well. It clicked to me that I might like to take over a position like the one at BIOS,” he said.“It involves the fundraising aspect, it involved hiring and finding the right people, nurturing growth, providing them with the resources, that sort of thing.”He said that he is excited about being a part of the work currently being carried out at BIOS, particularly noting the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study.“I’m very excited about the long term time series that we are doing because they tell us a lot about the ocean that you wouldn’t know otherwise,” he said. “It will be my goal to make sure they are healthy and moving forward, adapting to the future.“It may be that in the future long term series will not be done in the same ways, so we have to make sure that we are ready for those types of changes.”He also praised the work of Dr Andrea Bodnar, who is studying sea urchins in an effort to learn more about ageing and cancer. While common green sea urchins live on average three to four years, red sea urchins are capable of living more than a century with no apparent ageing effects and no reported cases of cancer.“It seems to be really, really interesting and relevant work,” Dr Curry said. “That seems to be maybe even a breakthrough area for BIOS if it all continues to work, and it’s off to a very good start.”Dr Curry also said that he hopes to help introduce more autonomous measurement systems, such as glider systems or mooring systems, which can collect data without requiring repeated trips by scientists.“I think that in the future, some of the long-term type series will end up being done remotely rather than needing the ship go out and do service the locations every two weeks,” he said. “The field of oceanography as a whole is moving in that direction. BIOS ought to be part of this.“BIOS already has an advantage because it’s in the middle of the deep ocean, so there are certain types of activities that can go on here that you can’t do at other locations, and we should take advantage of that.”