Gulf Research Program Advisory Board Members
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Dr. Jerry M. Melillo, NAS, Chair
Marine Biological Laboratory
Dr. Porfirio Álvarez-Torres
Consortium of Marine Research Institutions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Dr. Kim A. Anderson
Oregon State University
Mr. Kenneth E. Arnold, NAE
Worley Parsons
K. Arnold Consulting, Inc.
Dr. Elliot L. Atlas
University of Miami
Mr. Patrick A. Barnes
BFA Environmental
Mr. J. Ford Brett
PetroSkills
Dr. Antonio J. Busalacchi, Jr., NAE
University Corporation for Atomospheric Research (UCAR)
Dr. Elizabeth (Terry) Fontham
Louisiana State University, School of Public Health
Dr. Katherine H. Freeman, NAS
Pennsylvania State University
VADM Paul G. Gaffney, NAE
Monmouth University
Dr. William (Monty) Graham
University of Southern Mississippi
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Dr. Sara J. Graves
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Dr. Myron Gutmann
University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Susan Hanson, NAS
Clark University
Dr. Anthony H. Knap
Texas A&M University
Dr. A. Michael Macrander
Shell Alaska
Dr. William S. Marras, NAE
Ohio State University
Ms. Jean May-Brett
Louisiana Department of Education (Retired)
Dr. Kathryn (Kate) Moran
Ocean Networks Canada
Dr. Alonzo L. Plough
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Dr. Liesel A. Ritchie
University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Jonathan M. Samet, NAM
University of Southern California
Mr. Richard Sears
Independent Consultant and Stanford University
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Advisory Board Members' Biographies
Dr. Jerry M. Melillo, NAS, Chair
Marine Biological Laboratory
Dr. Melillo is a Distinguished Scientist and Director Emeritus at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, and a Professor of Biology at Brown University. Dr. Melillo specializes in understanding the impacts of human activities on the biogeochemistry of ecological systems from local to global scales, using a combination of field studies and simulation modeling. In 1996 and 1997, he served as the Associate Director for Environment in the US President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Melillo has completed terms as the President of the Ecological Society of America and of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), an international environmental assessment body headquartered in Paris. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He is also an honorary Professor in the Institute of Geophysical Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Melillo has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, two ecology textbooks and three edited volumes on biogeochemistry. Between 1998 and 2014 he co-led three assessments for the US Global Change Research Program on the impacts of climate change on the United States; 2000, 2009 and 2014. (Back to Top)
Dr. Porfirio Álvarez-Torres
Consortium of Marine Research Institutions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Dr. Porfirio Álvarez-Torres was born in Mexico City, works at the University of Tabasco, and is the Executive Secretary for the Consortium of Marine Research Institutions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. He graduated from the Autonomous Metropolitan University as a hydro-biologist and holds a doctorate in marine science from the Tokyo University of Marine Sciences and Technology. He has been professor and researcher in several institutions and directed numerous projects in federal agencies dealing with marine and freshwater resources, pollution, invasive species, fisheries, aquaculture, land and sea use planning and ocean policy. He was the General Director for Research in Aquaculture at the National Fisheries Institute (1995-2001), and Director for Regional Integration at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, acting as the leader in the development and implementation of ocean policy in Mexico, the implementation of the Federal Inter-ministerial Commission for Oceans and Coasts. Dr. Álvarez coordinated the Binational Mexico-US Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem program 2009-2013 that provided with the transboundary diagnostic analysis and the strategic action program for the Gulf of Mexico, both funded by the Global Environment Facility. Has been an advisor to the Mexican Representation to the UN. Received the Sankei Award in Japan in 1989 and the US-EPA Gulf of Mexico Program "Gulf Guardian Award" in year 2013 and 2015. Dr. Álvarez currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and is a member of the International Resources Panel of the United Nations Environmental Program. (Back to top)
Dr. Kim A. Anderson
Oregon State University
Dr. Kim Anderson is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University, where she directs the Food Safety and Environmental Stewardship Program. Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on environmental exposure of contaminants and mixtures, and development of novel bio-analytical technologies for assessing bioavailability in multi-contaminant environments. She is the project leader in the NIEHS Superfund Research Program titled “Biological Response Indicator Devices for Gauging Environmental Stressors.” Dr. Anderson was recruited by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in collaboration with the Global Environmental Fund to develop new program of international scope, to design bio-analytical technologies to conduct environmental assessment for use in setting of protective standards for human and environmental health. Her research is also focused on development of personal passive samplers, a silicone-based device structured as a wristband or lapel-pin, which has the potential to greatly expand the possibilities for developing quantitative measures of exposures in humans. Dr. Anderson has more than 70 refereed articles, and holds 4 patents. She is currently World Council Member for Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), past member of the Board of Directors for SETAC North America, and founding member of the Chemistry Advisory Group. She received her PhD in Chemistry from Washington State University. She holds a BS in Geology from University of Oregon and a BS in Chemistry from Boise State University. (Back to Top)
Dr. Kenneth E. Arnold, NAE
Worley Parsons
K. Arnold Consulting
Dr. Kenneth Arnold has over 50 years of experience in facilities engineering design and project management, having worked on onshore and offshore projects in many areas of the world. A member National Academy of Engineering, he served two terms on the Marine Board and recently chaired the committee that prepared the report on Evaluating the Effectiveness of Offshore Safety and Environmental Management Systems. Mr. Arnold founded Paragon Engineering Services in Houston, an oil and gas project management and engineering services company, which became AMEC Paragon in 2005. He has co-authored two textbooks, five design guidelines and over 50 technical articles. Mr. Arnold edited the production facilities volume of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE’s) Petroleum Engineering Handbook and served on the board of SPE as the first specialty director of projects, facilities and construction and also as vice president of finance. He has three times been chosen as an SPE distinguished lecturer and is a recipient of the SPE DeGoyler Medal and Public Service Award. Mr. Arnold is 2015 President of the Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas having served two terms on its Board and as Treasurer, Arnold was named 2003 Houston Engineer of the Year by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 and the National Academy of Construction in 2014 for his work in offshore safety. He is a registered professional engineer and is an emeritus member of the advisory boards of Cornell University and Tulane University. He has taught facilities engineering in the MS Petroleum Engineering programs of both the University of Houston and Technion University in Israel. Mr. Arnold received a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell University and a M.S. in civil engineering from Tulane University. (Back to Top)
Dr. Elliot L. Atlas
University of Miami
Dr. Elliot Atlas is a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Atlas was a Senior Scientist and head of the Stratospheric/Tropospheric Measurements section in the Atmospheric Chemistry Division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He currently serves as Editor of the Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry. His research interests include the sources, transport, and transformation of atmospheric trace gases in the global atmosphere. Dr. Atlas’ work focuses primarily on trace gases and aerosols associated with the formation and destruction of ozone in the atmosphere. His research involves the development and application of advanced trace gas sampling and measurement techniques. Dr. Atlas’ research group investigates the distributions and trends of a large variety of halocarbons (both natural and man-made), hydrocarbons, and photochemical oxidation products of these species (such as organic nitrates). The research has included studies of sub-surface distribution of trace gases in the polar firn record, measurements of urban and regional chemical distributions of reactive tropospheric gases, evaluation of trace gas sources to the remote marine atmosphere, and measurement of halocarbons and hydrocarbons in the stratosphere up to 32 km altitude. The research platforms include tropospheric and stratospheric aircraft (C-130, P-3B, NSF Gulfstream V, ER-2, WB-57, NASA Global Hawk), high altitude balloons, oceanographic research ships, and land and island-based experiments. (Back to Top)
Mr. Patrick A. Barnes
BFA Environmental
Mr. Patrick Barnes, P.G., is a professional geologist, and serves as President/CEO of Barnes, Ferland and Associates, Inc. (aka BFA Environmental). He founded BFA, a minority owned, multidiscipline environmental engineering, surveying and scientific consulting firm in 1994 to help address the environmental justice (EJ) issues faced by many underrepresented communities. In that vein, Mr. Barnes has served as an advisor for several EJ communities including Warren County North Carolina, the birth place of the EJ movement. In Warren County, he successfully assisted in implementing a $14 million detoxification and closure of the Warren County North Carolina PCB Landfill. He has a deep-seated commitment to providing job skills and credentials to help at-risk young adults. Accordingly, in the past decade he has focused on helping to build resiliency in vulnerable Gulf Coast communities through job training. At Its peak BFA had over 150 employees in the Gulf region, executing $20 million in contracts for the Army Corps of Engineers. Over 100 of those employees were entry-level employees recruited, trained and hired locally. With this workforce, BFA has completed similar emergency response and environmental restoration projects in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. At the core of a successful restoration project is data collection and monitoring. Under contracts with the South Florida Water Management District, the agency charged with implementing the multibillion Everglades Restoration Program, Mr. Barnes managed 14 such work orders totaling 3.8 million dollars. These are the types of projects individuals from environmentally-impacted communities can participate in. Seeking to establish a lasting connection between his passion to help vulnerable communities and the environmental work needed to restore those communities, Mr. Barnes contributed $300,000 in seed capital to establish Limitless Vistas, Inc. (LVI) a New Orleans based 501c(3) non-profit. LVI is a workforce development entity and an active member of the national 21st Century Conservation and Service Corps movement. Since its inception LVI has trained and certified over 400 at-risk young adults for environmental and construction work, including emergency response and coastal restoration projects resulting from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, and the BP oil spill. He currently serves as LVI’s Chairman of the Board and Technical Advisor. Under his management BFA/LVI is currently working with the State of Florida’s workforce investment agency, Career Source Florida, to provide short term environmental, geotechnical, construction inspection training to 180 low-income, unemployed and underemployed individuals. Mr. Barnes works extensively to create partnerships in the minority and larger business community, which have been instrumental in providing opportunities beyond training for these young adults. Additionally, he is a founding board member of the Florida Consortium of Black Business and an active voice in the New Orleans-based 504 Collaborative. Mr. Barnes is also a leader in the Conservation Corps movement and serves on the Corps Network Council. In April 2013, Mr. Barnes was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change for his effort to bring environmental resiliency to vulnerable coastal communities through job training. (Back to Top)
Mr. J. Ford Brett
PetroSkills
Mr. J. Ford Brett, P.E., is the CEO of PetroSkills, which is the world’s largest training organization for the oil and gas workforce, offering courses and e-learning opportunities to more than 28,000 people. In 2012, he served on the National Academies’ Committee on the Effectiveness of Safety and Environmental Management Systems for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Operations. In 2010, he advised the U.S. Department of Interior as one of seven reviewers of the “30 Day Study” immediately following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mr. Brett has consulted in over 45 countries worldwide in the area of Petroleum Process and Project Management. Prior to joining PetroSkills, he was with Amoco Production Co. where he worked on drilling projects in the Bering Sea, the North Slope of Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Trinidad, and Wyoming, and led a project that first identified drill bit whirl (which the Oil and Gas Journal lists as one of the 100 most significant developments in the history of the petroleum industry). Mr. Brett has been granted over 30 US and international patents and authored over 30 technical publications. He has also served the Society of Petroleum Engineers International Board of Directors as Drilling and Completions Technical Director. Mr. Brett holds a BS in mechanical engineering and physics from Duke University, a MS in Engineering from Stanford University and a MBA from Oklahoma State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer and a Project Management Professional. (Back to Top)
Antonio J. Busalacchi, Jr., NAE
University Corporation for Atomospheric Research (UCAR)
Dr. Antonio Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) since August 2016, has a distinguished career in the geosciences; extensive experience in management of academic, laboratory, and government programs; and a broad knowledge of the community. Prior to his appointment at UCAR, he served as director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) and as a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland. After receiving a Ph.D. in oceanography from Florida State University, Dr. Busalacchi began his professional career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He has studied tropical ocean circulation, its role in the coupled climate system, and phenomena such as El Niño. His interests include the development and application of numerical models combined with in situ and space-based ocean observations to study the tropical ocean response to surface fluxes of momentum and heat. His research on climate variability and predictability has supported a range of international and national research programs dealing with global change and climate, particularly as affected by the oceans.
In 1991, he was appointed chief of NASA’s Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes. In 2000, he was selected as the founding director of ESSIC at the University of Maryland. Dr. Busalacchi has been involved in the activities of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP). From 2008-2014 he chaired the Joint Scientific Committee that oversaw the WCRP. He previously was co-chair of the scientific steering group for its sub-program on Climate Variability and Predictability. Dr. Busalacchi has served extensively on activities of the National Academies, including as chair of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, chair of the Climate Research Committee, chair of the Committee on Earth Science and Application: Ensuring the Climate Measurements from NPOESS and GOES-R, and co-chair of the Committee on National Security Implications of Climate Change on U.S. Naval Forces. He also has served as a member of the Committee on the Effect of Climate Change on Indoor Air Quality and Public Health, Committee on Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Social and Political Stresses, and Committee on the Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Program. Among his awards and honors, in 1991, Busalacchi was the recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award, as one of five outstanding young scientists in the entire Federal Government. In 1995 he was selected as Alumnus of the Year at Florida State University, in 1997 he was the H. Burr Steinbach Visiting Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in 1999 he was awarded the NASA/Goddard Excellence in Outreach Award and the Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and was the 2006 AMS Walter Orr Roberts Interdisciplinary Science Lecturer. In 2016, Dr. Busalacchi was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. (Back to Top)
Dr. Elizabeth (Terry) Fontham
Louisiana State University, School of Public Health
Dr. Terry Fontham is the Founding Dean of the School of Public Health, Professor of Epidemiology Emeritus, and former Professor of Pathology in School of Medicine at the Louisiana State University. She has served as Senior Consultant Epidemiologist to the Louisiana Office of Public Health. Dr. Fontham' s major area of research is cancer epidemiology, with a particular interest in tobacco and nutrition-related cancers and gastric carcinogenesis. She has conducted studies of lung cancer and environmental tobacco smoke, including the largest early study of lung cancer in nonsmoking women that provided some of the critical information leading to the classification of second-hand smoke as a human carcinogen. Dr. Fontham has published extensively on stomach cancer and its risk factors, with studies of the high risk populations in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. Her recent research includes the study of innovative approaches to cervical cancer screening in hard-to-reach women, and studies of the long-term human-health effects of the exposures as a result of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. She is a member of Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute and co-chairs the Costa Rican HPV vaccine trials working group for NCI. She served as Treasurer and is currently on the Board of Directors of the American College of Epidemiology of which she is a Fellow. She was a member of the inaugural Editorial Board of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention as Assistant Editor; Chairman of the Scientific Editorial Board of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries; and a contributing author for both the Surgeon General's Report and International Agency for Cancer Research Carcinogenesis Monograph series. She is recipient of the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Tobacco and Health, the C.L. Brown Award for Leadership Excellence in Tobacco Prevention; the Leadership and Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Epidemiology; and the Pfizer Award for Excellence in Research, Education and Patient Care. (Back to Top)
Dr. Katherine H. Freeman, NAS
Pennsylvania State University
Katherine H. Freeman is a Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University. She has served on the NRC Board of Earth Science and Resources, and is currently co-Editor of Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. She is member of the National Academy of Science, and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, The Geochemical Society, The Geological Society of America, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Her research interests include marine sediment biogeochemistry, past climates and environments and their modern analogs, and new methods in molecular and stable-isotope analyses. Dr. Freeman received her Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1991. (Back to Top)
VADM Paul G. Gaffney, NAE
Monmouth University
Paul Gaffney is a retired Navy Vice Admiral and President Emeritus of Monmouth University; having served as president from 2003 to 2013. He was president of the National Defense University from 2000 to 2003. Prior to assuming those duties, Admiral Gaffney was the chief of naval research with responsibility for Department of the Navy’s science and technology investment. He commanded of the Navy’s Meteorology and Oceanography program with headquarters in Bay St. Louis, MS. He was the commanding officer of the Naval Research Laboratory. He was appointed to the U.S. Ocean Policy Commission in July 2001, and served during its full tenure from 2001 to 2004. His distinguished naval career spanned over three decades including duty at sea, overseas, and ashore in executive and six command positions. Admiral Gaffney was assigned to duties in Japan, Vietnam, Spain, and Indonesia. He is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Upon graduation, he was selected for immediate graduate education and received a master’s degree in Ocean Engineering from Catholic University of America where he is honored on its Engineering “Wall of Fame." He attended the Naval War College, graduating with highest distinction. He completed an M.B.A. at Jacksonville University. The University of South Carolina, Jacksonville University, and Catholic University have awarded him honorary doctorates. He has been recognized with a number of military decorations and the Naval War College’s J. William Middendorf Prize for Strategic Research. Admiral Gaffney is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He chaired the federal Ocean Research/Resources Advisory Panel (ORRAP) and currently chairs the federal Ocean Exploration Advisory Board. He is a Trustee of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a fellow in the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University and a director of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (Back to Top)
Dr. William (Monty) Graham
University of Southern Mississippi
Dr. Monty Graham is the Chair of the Department of Marine Science at The University of Southern Mississippi located at Stennis Space Center, where he is also a Professor of Marine Science. Previous to this, he was a Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. Dr. Graham is a biological oceanographer with a specialization in gelatinous planton. Though his interest in ‘jellies’ is broad, ranging from physiology of individuals to global patterns of populations, his primary research explores the causes and consequences of jellyfish variability in heavily fished ecosystems. Dr. Graham serves as a Board representative and is the past Chair of the Gulf of Mexico University Research Collaborative. He also serves as a member representative on the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Southeastern Universities Research Association, and the Northern Gulf Institute. Dr. Graham participated as University President’s representative on Governor’s GoCoast2020. He received his undergraduate degree in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His master's and doctorate were granted from the University of California-Santa Cruz. His post-doctoral work was conducted at UC-Santa Barbara. (Back to Top)
Dr. Sara J. Graves
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Dr. Sara Graves is the Director of the Information Technology and Systems Center, Board of Trustees University Professor and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She directs research and development in sustainable distributed data infrastructures, data mining and knowledge discovery, semantic technologies, information analytics, and cyber security/resilience. Dr. Graves was recently elected to the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (GCOOS) Board of Directors, part of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS); GCOOS seeks to facilitate the establishment of a sustained and integrated observing systems for the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Graves is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI), the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) Board of Trustees, the Climate Change Science Institute (CCSI) Science Advisory Board of the DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has also served as a member of the NASA Headquarters Earth System Science and Applications Advisory Committee (ESSAAC) and Chair of the ESSAAC Subcommittee on Information Systems and Services (ESISS), as well as a founding member of the NOAA Science Advisory Board Data Archives and Access Requirements Working Group. Dr. Graves has been the Principal Investigator on many research projects with NASA, NOAA, National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other entities. She received her PhD in computer science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. (Back to Top)
Dr. Myron Gutmann
University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Myron Gutmann is a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Assistant Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), with responsibility for NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate. Dr. Gutmann spearheaded NSF’s initiative to improve access to publications and data. He was Director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan, the world’s largest repository of publicly-available data in the social and behavioral sciences. Dr. Gutmann was also Professor of History and Information and Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He has written or edited five books and more than 80 articles and chapters. Dr. Gutmann is a Fellow of the AAAS, and has served on a numerous national and international advisory committees and editorial boards. His broad range of interests include interdisciplinary historical population studies, especially relating population to agricultural, the environment, and health. Dr. Gutmann also studies ways that digital materials can be properly preserved and shared, and how the confidentiality of research subjects can be protected when data about them is made available for secondary use. He teaches about historical demography and about the social, demographic, and economic history of Europe and the Americas. Dr. Gutmann received his PhD from Princeton University. (Back to Top)
Dr. Susan Hanson, NAS
Clark University
Dr. Professor Susan Hanson is Distinguished University Professor Emerita and former Director of the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University (1973). Before going to graduate school, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya (1964-66). She is an urban geographer with interests in gender and economy, transportation, local labor markets, and sustainability. Her research has examined the relationship between the urban built environment and people’s everyday mobility within cities, including questions of access to opportunity and how gender affects access. Her most recent project focuses on understanding how gender, geographic opportunity structures, and geographic rootedness shape entrepreneurship in cities. Professor Hanson has edited four geography journals - Urban Geography, Economic Geography, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, and The Professional Geographer - and has been the geography editor for the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, first and second editions. She currently serves on the editorial boards of several journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Professor Hanson is a past president of the Association of American Geographers. Her current activities include serving as Division Chair of the Transportation Research Board (one of the six divisions of the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies), as a member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences and of the NRC’s standing committee for re-engineering the 2020 US Census, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the NRC’s Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2000. (Back to Top)
Dr. Anthony H. Knap
Texas A&M University
Dr. Anthony Knap is the James R. Whatley Endowed Chair in Geosciences, Professor of Oceanography, and Director of Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG) at Texas A&M University. He received his PhD in chemical oceanography and MS in oceanography from University of Southampton, UK and his BS from Wisconsin State University. Dr. Knap has had extensive experience with both chemical and physical monitoring systems in the Gulf and elsewhere. The research group that he directs (GERG) has a long history of work in the Gulf of Mexico, including the operation of a number of instrumented buoys (Texas Automated Buoy System – TABS) and other sustained monitoring systems in the Gulf of Mexico. For many years he was director and president of the Bermuda Biological Station, later the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences, which he converted into a global leader in ocean research and education. He founded and was the PI for 25 years of the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) established in 1988 as well as being the PI for 30 years of the longest continuous open ocean time-series founded by Henry Stommel in 1954 as the Panulirus Stations. With Anthony Michaels he founded the Risk Prediction Initiative (RPI), a business/science partnership that still exists today after over 20 years, bringing climate science to the insurance world. He is very interested in the intersection of business and climate science and has made presentations on climate and business to companies such as Barclays Wealth, Barclays Capital, HSBC, Consortia of Energy Companies, many insurance companies such as Amlin, Catlin, Flagstone, XL, Lloyds of London as well as conferences such as the World Insurance Forum and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Dr. Knap has worked on major oil spills and dispersant use in the tropics and temperate environments. He founded the International Center for Ocean and Human Health in 1998, which led to the beginning of NSF/NIEHS collaboration in establishing a centers program connecting the two. Dr. Knap’s research interests include oceanography, ocean observing organic geochemistry, environmental science, atmosphere/ocean interactions, oil pollution and dispersant use, effects of contaminants on the marine environment, ocean health and human health interactions. One of the most interesting collaborations was with J.C. Venter publishing the “Ocean Genome” in 2004. Dr. Knap has over 150 peer reviewed publications relating to the subjects listed. He has served on many national and international science panels. He was the Chairman of the Health of the Ocean Committee for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), then co-chaired the Coastal Panel of GOOS for 8 years with Tom Malone resulting in the GOOS coastal strategic plan and then the implementation plan. He presently serves on the Scientific Steering Committee for the GOOS of the IOC and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Partnership of Observations of the Global Ocean (POGO). He has served on various commercial company boards and is presently a Director of Maritime Insurance Solutions, Ltd. (Back to Top)
Dr. A. Michael Macrander
Shell Alaska
Dr. Michael Macrander is Chief Scientist for Shell Alaska. In this role he is responsible for planning, directing, and implementing a diverse portfolio of scientific investigations and monitoring in the Alaskan Arctic. This includes onshore and offshore studies programs and is directed at understanding broad baseline environmental and ecological conditions monitoring and assessment interactions between industry activities and the environment, and assessing impacts of an overall changing Arctic. He also serves on the Advisory Panel for the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) and the Science and Technical Advisory Panel for the North Slope Advisory Panel. Before his position in Alaska, he worked for Shell for 17 years in Houston, studying, among other things coastal land, loss wetlands restoration, and marine resource monitoring. Through his 30 year career, Dr. Macrander has focused his investigative efforts on multiple aspects of environmental ecology, management, and regulation, including wetlands, threatened and endangered species protection, ecological risk evaluation, and the evaluation of the impacts of oil spills. He earned his PhD in biological sciences from the University of Alabama. (Back to Top)
Dr. William S. Marras, NAE
Ohio State University
William Marras is executive director and scientific director of the Spine Research Institute, and executive director of both the Center for Occupational Health in Automotive Manufacturing (COHAM) and the Institute for Ergonomics. He is the Honda Chair Professor in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering at the Ohio State University, and holds joint appointments in the departments of orthopaedic surgery, physical medicine, and neurosurgery. Dr. Marras has chaired numerous National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees and boards including the Committee on Human Factors, the Committee on Human Systems Integration, and the Board on Human Systems Integration. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009. Dr. Marras’ research focuses on understanding the role biomechanics play in causing in spine disorders and their prevention, evaluation, and treatment. His findings have been published in over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, and have been cited over 11,000 times. Dr. Marras is a two-time winner of the prestigious Swedish Volvo Award for Low Back Pain Research. He also won Austria's Vienna Award for Physical Medicine and the Liberty Mutual Prize for Injury Prevention Research. Dr. Marras has been elected a fellow in six professional societies: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Ergonomics Society (UK), and the International Ergonomics Association. He currently serves as Deputy Editor of Spine and was the previous Editor-in-Chief of Human Factors. Dr. Marras is also president of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFES). (Back to Top)
Ms. Jean May-Brett
Louisiana Department of Education (Retired)
Ms. Jean May-Brett was the Director of the Math Science Partnership (MSP) Program and STEM Partnership Coordinator for the Louisiana Department of Education before her retirement. Her duties included oversight of the MSP program in Louisiana providing math, science and technology professional development to classroom teachers through focused projects. Ms. May-Brett worked with public and private partners in an effort to develop regional and state STEM initiatives. She serves as the State Coordinator for the Science Matters communication network. During her 25-years of classroom teaching Ms. May-Brett taught Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Mathematics to students in New York and Louisiana at the middle and high school levels. Her honors and awards include being a Tandy Scholars Champion of the Classroom, receiving the Outstanding Leadership in Science Education award from the National Science Education Leadership Association and been recognized as the Outstanding High School Science Teacher in Louisiana. She served as the Assistant Director of Educational Television Technology at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1998-2003 and was the Curriculum Director and Producer for the award winning middle school Enviro-Tacklebox© video series. Ms. May-Brett was also the content producer for Literacy and Learning©, another award winning program that provided professional development videos on teaching strategies. She is an officer in both the Louisiana Science Teachers Association and the Louisiana Association of Teachers of Mathematics. She is a past-president of the Louisiana Science Teachers Association (LSTA), the Louisiana Environmental Educators Association, the Southern Association of Marine Educators (SAME) and the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA). Ms. May-Brett has held numerous positions on committees and served on the Council for the National Science Teachers Association. She is a member of NOAA’s Science Advisory Board and its Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science Program Advisory Committee Working Group. She serves as an advisor to the American Petroleum Institutes Delta Chapter for educational programs and is a board member of Core Element a regional collaborative to improve math and science education. She has served on the Management Council of the Central Gulf of Mexico (CGOM) Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE), and three terms on the Governor’s Environmental Education Commission. (Back to Top)
Dr. Kathryn (Kate) Moran
Ocean Networks Canada
Dr. Kate Moran is the President & CEO, Ocean Networks Canada. Prior, she joined the University of Victoria in September 2011 as a Professor in the Faculty of Earth and Ocean Sciences and as Director of NEPTUNE Canada. Her previous appointment was Professor at the University of Rhode Island with a joint appointment in the Graduate School of Oceanography and the Department of Ocean Engineering. She also served as the Graduate School of Oceanography’s Associate Dean, Research and Administration. From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Moran was seconded to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she served as an Assistant Director and focused on Arctic, polar, ocean, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and climate policy issues. Dr. Moran holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Rhode Island and Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on marine geotechnics and its application to the study of paleoceanography, tectonics and seafloor stability. She served as a member of the National Academies Committee on Emerging Research Questions in the Artic. (Back to Top)
Dr. Alonzo L. Plough
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Dr. Alonzo Plough joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as vice president, Research-Evaluation-Learning and chief science officer in January 2014. Dr. Plough came to the Foundation from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where he served as director of emergency preparedness and response from 2009–2013. In that role, Dr. Plough was responsible for the leadership and management of the public health preparedness activities protecting the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County from natural disasters and threats related to disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies. He coordinated activities in emergency operations, infectious disease control, risk communication, planning, and community engagement. Prior to this position, Dr. Plough served as vice president of strategy, planning and evaluation for The California Endowment from 2005–2009. He was responsible for the leadership of the Endowment’s strategic planning and development, evaluation, research, and organizational learning. Dr. Plough also served 10 years as director and health officer for the Seattle and King County Department of Public Health, and professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle. He previously served as director of public health in Boston for eight years. Dr. Plough earned his PhD and MA at Cornell University, and his MPH at Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. He earned a BA at St. Olaf College. He has held academic appointments at Harvard University School of Public Health, Tufts University Department of Community Medicine, and Boston University School of Management. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for public service and leadership and is the author of an extensive body of scholarly articles, books, and book chapters. (Back to Top)
Dr. Liesel A. Ritchie
University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Liesel Ashley Ritchie is associate director at the University of Colorado’s Natural Hazards Center and a research professor with joint appointments in CU Boulder’s Institute of Behavioral Science and Environmental Studies Program. During her career, Dr. Ritchie has studied a range of disaster events, including the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills; the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash release; Hurricane Katrina; and earthquakes in Haiti and New Zealand. In the past two decades, she has served as either principal investigator or senior researcher on more than 80 projects with funding from a variety of entities including NASA, NSF, USGS, and NOAA. Since 2000, her focus has been on the social impacts of disasters with an emphasis on technological disasters, social capital, and renewable resource communities and she has published widely on these topics. Dr. Ritchie’s most recent research includes two NSF projects: one on how settlement and litigation processes in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill are influencing social and psychological recovery in coastal communities along the northern Gulf of Mexico and another in Colorado and Oklahoma studying risk perceptions associated with earthquakes induced by deep wastewater injection. Dr. Ritchie is a National Institute of Standards and Technology Disaster Resilience Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Advisory Board.(Back to Top)
Dr. Jonathan M. Samet, NAM
University of Southern California
Dr. Jonathan Samet, a pulmonary physician and epidemiologist, is currently Distinguished Professor and Flora L. Thornton Chair for the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and Director, USC Institute for Global Health. He is trained in the specialty of internal medicine and in the subspecialty of pulmonary diseases. Dr. Samet has investigated diverse health issues using epidemiological approaches. His research has focused on the health risks of inhaled pollutants—particles and ozone in outdoor air and indoor pollutants including secondhand smoke and radon. Dr. Samet has also investigated the occurrence and causes of cancer and respiratory diseases, emphasizing the risks of active and passive smoking. He has served on numerous committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, including chairing the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VI) Committee and most recently the Committee to Review the IRIS Process. For several decades, Dr. Samet has been involved in global health, focused on tobacco control, air pollution, and chronic disease prevention. He has been chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. EPA and currently chairs the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. He was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board in 2011. Dr. Samet has served as editor and author for reports of the Surgeon General on smoking and health since 1984, receiving the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 1990 and 2006 for these contributions. He was the senior scientific editor for the 50th Anniversary 2014 report. Dr. Samet received the 2004 Prince Mahidol Award for Global Health awarded by the King of Thailand, and the 2006 Public Service Award of the American Thoracic Society, the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health, the WHO World No Tobacco Day Award, the Doll-Wynder Award from SRNT and the Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal from the American Thoracic Society/American Lung Association. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1997. (Back to Top)
Mr. Richard Sears
Independent Consultant and Stanford University
Mr. Richard Sears, a geophysicist, is a consulting professor at Stanford University. As chief scientist for the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Mr. Sears provided technical and policy recommendations on offshore drilling to prevent future accidents of this type. Mr. Sears provided technical expertise to the investigation into the causes of the incident, and in the preparation of recommendations to the Commission. He was responsible for accessing industry expertise to aid the Commission in carrying out its duties, and was a contributing author of the Chief Counsel’s Report, which detailed the technical and managerial factors leading to the blowout and spill. Mr. Sears also served as a member of the Department of Interior’s Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee. During his 33 years with Shell Oil Co. and Royal Dutch Shell, Mr. Sears acquired significant domestic and international experience in the upstream oil and gas industry, holding technical and managerial positions including exploration geophysicist, technical instructor, economist, strategic planner, and general management. He received a BS in physics and an MS in geophysics from Stanford University. (Back to Top)
Gulf Research Program Advisory Group Members (2013-2014)
Under the leadership of Dr. Barbara Schaal, the original Gulf Research Program Advisory Group developed a strategic vision that established the Program's foundation and identified opportunities to contribute lasting benefit to the Gulf region and the nation. In fall 2014, Program oversight transitioned from the Advisory Group to a newly appointed Advisory Board charged with implementing the Program's vision.
Members of the original Advisory Group are listed below:
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Dr. Barbara A. Schaal, NAS, Chair
Washington University, St. Louis
Dr. Donald F. Boesch
University of Maryland, Cambridge
Dr. Robert S. Carney
Louisiana State University
Dr. Stephen R. Carpenter, NAS
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Dr. Cortis K. Cooper
Chevron Corporation
Dr. Courtney Cowart
Sewanee: The University of the South
Dr. Robert A. Duce
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Texas A&M University, College Station
Dr. Deborah Estrin, NAE
Cornell New York City Tech
Dr. Christopher B. Field, NAS
Carnegie Institution for Science
Dr. Gerardo Gold-Bouchot
Center for Research and Advanced Studies at Merida
Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, NAM
George Washington University
Dr. Bernard D. Goldstein, NAM
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Dr. Thomas O. Hunter
Sandia National Laboratories (Retired)
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Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, NAE
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Dr. Ashanti Johnson
University of Texas at Arlington
Institute for Broadening Participation
Dr. David M. Karl, NAS
University of Hawaii
Ms. Molly McCammon
Alaska Ocean Observing System
Dr. Linda A. McCauley, NAM
Emory University
Dr. J. Steven Picou
University of South Alabama
Dr. Eduardo Salas
University of Central Florida
Mr. Kerry Michael St. Pé
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program
Dr. Arnold F. Stancell, NAE
Mobil Oil (Retired)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Emeritus)
Dr. LaDon Swann
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
Auburn University
Mr. James W. Ziglar
Van Ness Feldman
Dr. Mark D. Zoback, NAE
Stanford University
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