The University of Guam has appointed Dr. John Jenson as the new Director of its Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI).

Jenson, who replaces Dr. Sharam Khosrowpanah, will begin his appointment on October 1. Khosrowpanah was recently named the Interim Dean of the School of Engineering.

 “WERI is blessed with extraordinary scientific talent and a great tradition of teamwork among its faculty, staff, and student research assistants—and I mean not only internal teamwork but teamwork with the rest of UOG and partner agencies on Guam, CNMI, and FSM, as well,” Jenson said. “All I really have to do, like those that have gone before me, is to empower all of that talent and continue to foster the teamwork."

For the last 23 years, Jenson has served as a professor of environmental geology at UOG and a hydrogeologist at WERI. His research, which focuses on the applied and fundamental aspects of island groundwater hydrology and related environmental science, has led to work like assessing newly-drilled and rehabilitated wells, rehabilitating long out-of-service-wells, and identifying new sites for production wells in Guam.  

Jenson earned a Master’s in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan in 1976 and a Ph.D. in Geology from Oregon State University in 1993.

For more information about WERI, visit weri.uog.edu.