(June 28, 2010) – Nine New College of Florida faculty and staff members are lending their expertise in the environmental, marine and biological sciences to assess and analyze damage from the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
As advisers to Florida’s statewide Oil Spill Academic Task Force, they are using their backgrounds as scientists, scholars and researchers to assist policymakers, regulatory agencies and others responsible for the cleanup and recovery efforts.
The task force consists of nearly 250 of the brightest minds at 15 public and private colleges and universities throughout Florida. It was created to assist the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other state and federal agencies in determining the magnitude of the environmental impacts from the spill and to provide wide-ranging expertise to authorities in charge of the recovery.
The nine representatives from New College, the nationally acclaimed college for the liberal arts and sciences in Sarasota, also are available to work with the media to help the public understand the ecological impacts and public policy implications of one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
New College’s advisers to the Oil Spill Academic Task Force are:
- Assistant Vice President Julie Morris, a member and former chair of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, is concerned that the harm to some marine plants and animal species could have far greater consequences throughout the food chain in the Gulf. She currently serves as chairman of the council’s Sustainable Fisheries and Ecosystem Committee. Morris currently serves as the assistant vice president for academic affairs at New College and is the College’s liaison to the oil spill task force.
- Biology professor Sandra Gilchrist, director of New College’s Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, is an authority on rebuilding crab and other crustacean populations and sampling corals for diseases and toxins. She also serves on the advisory board of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, which provides research vessels and specialized equipment to more than 20 colleges and universities statewide to promote marine science research, education and public outreach.
- Political science professor Frank Alcock is lending his knowledge of the politics of oil and other energy sources to decisions about future oil drilling. He is also an expert on oceans’ governance, seafood markets and fisheries management. Alcock is currently director of the Environmental Studies Program at New College, director of the Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota and a former U.S. Department of Energy policy analyst. He is also the co-author of the Collins Center for Public Policy’s report on “Potential Impacts of Oil and Gas Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico,” which was released in spring 2010, just weeks before the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
- Biology professor Leo Demski is an authority on neurobiology and the reproduction of various species of marine life. He is the director emeritus of the college’s Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center.
- Psychology professor Heidi Harley has done research on dolphin cognition and behavior and is contributing her skills in educating the public about the marine environment and the possible impacts of the oil spill on marine mammals in the Gulf.
- Biology and environmental studies professor Meg Lowman is lending her skills as a science educator to help policymakers and the general public understand the complex scientific issues related to the oil spill response and recovery. She writes a newspaper column on environmental issues and has written or co-authored several books and articles based on her global research on ecosystems ranging from coral reefs to rain forests.
- Biology professor Elzie McCord is addressing the methods and findings of chemical analysis of water samples from the Gulf, as well as other bodies of water affected by the spill.
- Biochemistry professor Katie Walstrom is drawing upon her background in genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology to help with genetic testing of tissue samples of marine organisms.
- Mathematics professor Necmettin Yildirim is using his knowledge of biological systems and the interaction of genes, proteins and biochemical reactions to develop mathematical models to investigate the effects of the oil spill on the environment and how to mitigate the damage.
For more information on New College of Florida faculty and staff involved in clean up efforts related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, please contact the New College Office of Public Affairs at (941) 487-4153 or email [email protected].
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The Oil Spill Academic Task Force has set up a website (www.oilspill.fsu.edu) for policymakers, the media and others to search its database of scientists and scholars in the State University System and four private universities willing to assist the state of Florida and the entire Gulf region with assessing and responding to the environmental crisis.
The website’s “Expert Finder Database Search” allows users to locate authorities under more than 400 topics, such as sea grass ecology, fisheries, ocean and coastal economics, analytical chemistry and oil spill modeling and predictions.