|
|
| FAU Experts in the News Newspaper Television |
Florida Atlantic University is a member of the Oil Spill Academic Task Force established by Chancellor Frank Brogan on May 3, 2010 to provide assistance to local, state and federal agencies in dealing with the Gulf of Mexico spill and its aftermath. FAU is assisting with this national effort, offering a broad variety of environmental science, engineering and technology resources to aid response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Leading the charge for FAU on the Oil Spill Academic Task Force is Dr. Leonard Berry, director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies housed at FAU. The Florida Center for Environmental Studies is a state university research center established to synthesize and communicate knowledge related to Florida ecosystems including tropical and sub-tropical water-dominated freshwater, estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Faculty in FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science are involved in marine and oceanographic work as it relates to the oil spill. FAU engineers have developed a variety of sensors and technologies that can be used to monitor water quality and contaminant dynamics. Scientists from FAU’s Harbor Branch OceaOnographic Institute are working to characterize not only the immediate effects of oil spill contamination on marine species, but also the anticipated effects as contamination is passed along the food chain. For decades, Harbor Branch has collected data on water quality, benthic and reef habitats, and marine life in habitats including the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Florida Keys, Florida Bay, and the estuaries and offshore environments along Florida’s east coast, which can serve as a baseline for gauging impacts of the spill. Harbor Branch is also a member of the NOAA Marine Mammal Stranding Network and is authorized to perform marine mammal rescue. FAU has numerous experts who are available to discuss the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its consequences with regard to biology, ecology and marine organisms, as well as in the areas of the geosciences and civil, environmental and geomatics engineering. For a listing of FAU’s oil spill experts visit: www.fau.edu/oilspillexperts |
