A. Quinton White, Jr., Ph.D., is Executive Director, Marine Science Research Institute and Professor of Biology and Marine Science at Jacksonville University. The Marine Science Research Institute building opened in 2010 and is the first LEED certified Gold building on the JU campus. The MSRI recently became home to OCEARCH which is the world’s largest shark tagging and ocean research program of its kind. White joined the faculty at Jacksonville University in 1976, having completed his Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina at the Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research. Dr. White has written numerous research and technical papers or reports and received grants and contracts to support marine research at JU.  Currently he is conducting research on the history of human impact on the Florida environment and especially on the St. Johns River with a focus on manatees and water quality issues.

Dr. White has been active in the Jacksonville community and writes a monthly column in the Florida Times-Union called “River Life.” He is President-elect of the Southern Association of Marine Labs and past-Board Chair of the Southeastern Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association.  Recent awards have included Florida Wildlife Federation Marine Conservationist of the Year in 2015, the Regional Leadership Award from the Northeast Florida Regional Council and the City of Jacksonville’s Christi P. Veleta Environmental Award in 2014. He was honored by Leadership Jacksonville in 2011 as a Community Trustee. In 2010 he received the City of Jacksonville Mayor’s Environmental Achievement Award.  He was recognized as a 2016 Veteran of Influence by the Jacksonville Business Journal. Dr. White served in the U.S. Army prior to starting graduate school at the University of Virginia where he earned a MS in 1972.