Craig Tobias

Reserve UConn Director

Professional experience

Craig is half ecosystem-ecologist and half marine chemist. He received his PhD in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary and worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, the US Geological Survey, and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington before coming to UConn in 2009. He served as the UConn undergraduate Marine Science program coordinator, and as a long-standing member of the local shellfish commission. Craig became the UConn Center Director for the Reserve in 2024.  His research focuses on ecosystem responses to nutrient pollution in a variety of coastal habitats.

What is your favorite memory of the Sound?

Within days of arriving at Avery Point, I was digging for clams in the local shellfish beds. Growing up in Pittsburgh and being a clamming novice, my haul that day was a grand total of one quahog.  Hands down the best clam of my life!  Those shellfish beds are now within the boundaries  of the CT NERR,  and I couldn’t be happier about being part of their stewardship.