Funding science and technology is a priority for Senator Kerry. He's a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and chairman of the Science, Technology and Innovation Subcommittee, and is considered the Senate leader on environmental issues. So yesterday's announcement of a million dollar grant for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution had a special significance.

From the press release:

Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy today, along with Congressman Bill Delahunt, announced that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute would receive $990,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The funding will be used for the Woods Hole Sea Grant program, which supports research, education and extension projects that channel the expertise of ocean scientists toward meeting the research and information needs of users of the marine environment. It works to encourage environmental stewardship, long-term economic development and responsible use of the resources of the nation’s coast.

“For decades, the Sea Grant program at Woods Hole has been on the cutting edge of critical issues impacting Massachusetts’ coastal waters. Sea Grant’s innovative research and technology efforts have helped coastal states across the nation on everything from fisheries, aquaculture and ecosystems to our ever-changing coastline,” said John Kerry.

As luck would have it, several Massachusetts bloggers had a call with Senator Kerry yesterday, and one of the attendees was friend and blogger Mary Beth, a long time Kerry supporter and a marine biologist at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, who may be eligible to apply for funding for the Sea Grant project that WHOI is administering.

Watch for more from Kerstin on the call with Senator Kerry tomorrow. We discussed everything from the economy to the war to the environment, but I thought the tie with the Woods Hole funding and the fact that Mary Beth was on the call was particularly interesting.

Mary Beth thanked the Senator on the call for his attention to the science budget, and he responded that not only are they focused on funding, but cited a number of initiatives related to the environment, including an ocean acidification bill that was passed out of his committee, a bill related to climate change, and one that he's working on with Barbara Boxer and Joe Lieberman on cap and trade.

The senator also spoke about a hearing he held this week on the deficiencies of the administration's budget proposal, and "The America Competes Act" that attempts to makes up the gap in America's commitment to science and technology.

The big problem, the Senator noted, is that we have an administration that unfriendly with respect to these types of initiatives.

I was unable to find video related to the Sea Grant program, but this is pretty fascinating. It's a WHOI project on climate change, and illustrates the broad scope of their work.