DURHAM, N.H. - When BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in April 2010 and released nearly five million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, University of New Hampshire researchers responded by sharing their expertise with the government, the media, and the scientific community. On Monday, Sept. 23, they'll bring their perspectives to the public at the inaugural event of UNH's Faculty Research Excellence Seminar Series. The first seminar, open to the public, will also celebrate UNH's new School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering. 

Seminar: Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

• Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, 4 - 6 p.m.
• Squamscott Room, Holloway Commons, UNH in Durham
• Speakers: Larry Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Carsey Institute at UNH

Nancy Kinner, UNH professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Coastal Response Research Center
Larry Mayer, director of the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering and the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at UNH
W. Kelley Thomas, Hubbard Professor in genomics and director of the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies at UNH

• RSVP by Sept. 16: https://www.events.unh.edu/RegistrationForm.pm?event_id=15496

In the face of one of the United States' worst environmental disasters, researchers from across the UNH campus were called upon to provide measurements, guidance, and innovative studies to help those charged with responding to and understanding the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

Hamilton and colleagues researched how residents of Louisiana and Florida altered their views on environmental issues after the spill. Kinner, whose UNH/NOAA Coastal Response Research Center convened several scientific meetings in response to the spill, testified before federal lawmakers and spoke with hundreds of media outlets in the wake of the spill.

Mayer led the National Research Council committee that produced a congressionally mandated report on the spill; in addition, he and researchers from the UNH/NOAA Joint Hydrographic Center he co-directs worked in the Gulf of Mexico after the spill using sonar imaging to track the fate of oil and gas in the water column. With a National Science Foundation RAPID grant, Thomas and colleagues looked at the impact of the spill on microbial organisms along the Gulf of Mexico beaches.

The Faculty Research Excellence Seminar Series, sponsored by The UNH Research Office, recognizes and celebrates the quality and diversity of UNH faculty research accomplishments, brings together multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives, and provides opportunities for faculty to network to explore possible collaborations. The series will continue monthly.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.

Photographs available to download:
Larry Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Carsey Institute at UNH /unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/hamilton.jpg
Credit: UNH Photographic Services

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Nancy Kinner, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UNH and director of the UNH-NOAA Coastal Response Research Center
Credit: UNH Photographic Services

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Caption: Larry Mayer, director of UNH's School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, professor of Earth science and ocean engineering, director of UNH's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, and co-director of the UNH-NOAA Joint Hydrographic Center
Credit: Lisa Nugent, UNH Photographic Services

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Caption: W. Kelley Thomas, Hubbard Professor of genomics at UNH and director of UNH's Hubbard Center for Genome Studies
Credit: Mike Ross, UNH Photographic Services