A public forum will be held on the evening of Tuesday, January 22, 2013 (7:00pm-8:30pm).

The purpose of the public forum is to provide the general public with a broader understanding of the current status of the Gulf of Mexico and prospects for recovery in relation to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  The public will have an opportunity to engage with scientists knowledgeable about the event and about the science underlying current predictions and on-going recovery activities.

This event is free of charge and open to the public, but capacity is limited and registration is required. More information will be available soon.

Speakers:

Donald F. Boesch, Ph.D.

Donald F. Boesch was born and raised in New Orleans and spent formative years in his youth exploring the marshes, bayous and beaches of the northern Gulf Coast.  A graduate of the Holy Cross School and Tulane University in New Orleans, he received a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the College of William and Mary.  After a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland in Australia and eight years at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Dr. Boesch returned to Louisiana as the first director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON).  There he was responsible for building the LUMCON Marine Center at Cocodrie and the research vessels Pelican and Acadiana, initiated research on the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” and led assessments of the long-term effects of offshore oil and gas development.  Since 1990 he has been President of and a professor in the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science that operates four laboratories across that state.  He also serves as Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland.   Don Boesch has returned to the Gulf Coast frequently to lead task forces and scientific panels on Gulf ecosystem protection and restoration.  He was appointed by the President as one of seven members of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and has recently completed service as chair of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

Steven A. Murawski, Ph.D.

Steven A. Murawski is Professor and the St. Petersburg Partnership–Peter Betzer Endowed Chair of Biological Oceanography at the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Murawski is a fishery biologist with 37 years of professional experience.  Prior to the University of South Florida, he worked at NOAA for 35 years, where he retired as the Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor for the National Marine Fisheries Service, directing the activities of 4,000 employees located in 22 laboratories. Since coming to the Gulf of Mexico region he has been actively involved in assessing the environmental impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and its implications for fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.  Murawski serves as Principal Investigator for the Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems (C-IMAGE) funded through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. In addition to research on oil spill impacts, he has an active program ongoing to assess the status of fishery stocks in the Gulf of Mexico, with particular emphasis on reef fish stocks.  This includes a program to develop new technologies focusing on remote sensing applications.  He is involved in research on marine Protected Areas (MPASs) and in climate effects on fisheries. Dr. Murawski continues to be involved in international fisheries and marine science activities, recently serving a term as vice-president and USA delegate to the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), and external advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture’s Ecosystem Approaches to Management program in Africa.  Additionally, he was recently been named by the National Academy of Sciences as a member of the US Committee for the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and as a member of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s Ecosystem Scientific and Statistical Committee.  His Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology was conferred in 1984 from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.