Bigelow Laboratory Appoints Newest Vice President

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is pleased to announce that James McManus has recently been hired as the institute’s inaugural vice president for administration and operations.

“Jim is an excellent scientist with deep knowledge of our operations and experience running a $2 billion program that funded cutting-edge research,” said Bigelow Laboratory President and CEO Deborah Bronk. “I’m excited that he is bringing his knowledge of the federal landscape, research operations, and proposal strategy to Bigelow to help manage this rapidly growing institute through these turbulent times.”

McManus comes to Bigelow Laboratory most recently from the National Science Foundation. From December 2024 to May 2025, he was the acting assistant director of the Directorate for Geosciences, and previously he served as the division director of the Division of Ocean Sciences from July 2022 to December 2024. He also held positions at the University of Akron, Oregon State University, and the University of Minnesota Duluth.

McManus’s appointment to Bigelow Laboratory is a real homecoming. He served as vice president for strategy and administration, from 2016 to 2018 and the vice president for research and administration from 2018 to 2022. In addition to his efforts to grow the institute’s human resources, IT, facilities, research, and business enterprises, McManus was also part of the initial design and planning for the Harold Alfond Center for Ocean Education and Innovation, as well as the new auxiliary building.

The new VP for administration and operations role was created to accommodate Bigelow Laboratory’s recent growth — in staff, research portfolio, and physical size. McManus joined the laboratory in time for the grand opening of the Alfond Center last month, and he will be instrumental in the coming years in campus planning to anticipate future research and educational growth.

“I am thrilled to return to Bigelow Laboratory as the new VP for administration and operations. This is a wonderful place to work with an exceptionally talented and dedicated staff,” McManus said. “The federal landscape is undergoing significant changes that will impact the national science enterprise, and this is an institution well-suited to not only survive during those changes but to thrive.”

Alongside his administrative acumen, McManus is also an accomplished scientist and expert in marine chemistry in both freshwater and deep-ocean environments. He holds a doctorate in oceanography from Oregon State and completed postdoctoral research there and at the University of Southern California.