Dr. Marjorie Friedrichs is a Research Associate Professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of the College of William and Mary. She received a B.A. in Physics from Middlebury College, a M.S. in Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Old Dominion University. Dr. Friedrichs' research program centers on the use of coupled biological-physical models together with analyses of in-situ and satellite data to better understand how and why carbon and nitrogen cycling vary among diverse marine environments, in the past, present and future. Much of her current research is aimed at improving how key carbon/nitrogen-related processes are represented in coupled biological-physical models and examining how projected climate-related environmental changes will affect biogeochemical and ecosystem dynamics. Another focus of her research involves assessment of the relative skill of the multiple biological/physical models currently being used in the community, within the Chesapeake Bay, on the continental shelf, and in the open ocean. Do more complex models have greater skill than the simplest models? Her research program also involves techniques for optimally combining data and models using data assimilation. Such methods have been applied to physical circulation models for decades, but have only recently been widely applied to marine ecosystem models. Such methods are becoming increasingly important with the greater impact within the community of long-term coastal and ocean observing systems.