Tom Garrison (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is emeritus professor of Marine Science at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, one of the largest undergraduate marine science departments in the United States. Dr. Garrison also holds an adjunct professorship at the University of Southern California. He has been named the country's Outstanding Marine Educator by the National Marine Technology Society, is a member of the COSEE staff, writes a regular column for the journal Oceanography, and was a winner of the prestigious Salgo-Noren Foundation Award for Excellence in College Teaching as well as the University of Texas NISOD award for academic leadership. Dr. Garrison was an Emmy Award team participant as writer and science advisor for the PBS syndicated Oceanus television series, and writer and science advisor for The Endless Voyage, a set of television programs in oceanography completed in 2003. He serves as a grants judge for the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. His widely used textbooks in oceanography and marine science have been the college market's best sellers for more than a decade. In 2009, the faculty of Orange Coast College selected Dr. Garrison as the institution's first Distinguished Professor, and The Association of Community College Trustees selected Dr. Garrison to win the United States and Canada's Pacific Region Award as top community college professor in 2010.
