Frank Kudrna, president of civil engineering firm Kudrna & Associates Ltd. in Chicago, was recently elected chair of the National Sea Grant Review Panel, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

Kudrna was elected unanimously to serve as chair by the panel, an independent 15-member citizens' advisory committee made up of individuals with diverse backgrounds in marine affairs. Panel members are appointed by the secretary of Commerce to advise the secretary, Commerce's under secretary for oceans and atmosphere, and the director of the National Sea Grant College Program on scientific and administrative policy.

Kudrna will be the panel chair for two years. He replaces Jeffrey Stephan, manager of the United Fishermen's Marketing Association Inc., in Kodiak, Alaska.

Kudrna currently serves on the Great Lakes Commission and formerly was director of the Illinois Division of Water Resources.

Other panel members are (alphabetically): James Arrington, associate vice president for research and graduate studies, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg; Peter Bell, adjunct professor with the Carnegie Institute and retired vice president and chief scientist of the Norton Company, Worcester, Mass.; Marne Dubs, consultant, New Canaan, Conn.; Carlos Fetterolf, Jr., retired executive secretary, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Michael Fischer, Program Officer for the Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif.; Roger Hanson, professor emeritus, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Walter Hartman, retired General Motors Corporation division supervisor, Olcott, N.Y.;

Frederick E. Hutchinson, Professor Emeritus, University of Maine, Lamoine; Geraldine Knatz, managing director for the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.; Elaine Knight, co-owner and manager of Knight's Seafood, Brunswick, Ga.; Arthur Maxwell, director, Institute of Geophysics, University of Texas, Austin; John Toll, chancellor emeritus, University of Maryland, College Park; Judith Weiss, professor in the department of biological sciences at Rutgers University, Newark, N.J.

Established by Congress in 1966, the National Sea Grant College Program is a partnership of academia, government and the private sector dedicated to the development and wise use of the nation's coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources. The program sponsors research, education and outreach through a nationwide network of colleges.