Dr. Nasseer Idrisi Selected As HBCU Educator at Sea

Dr. Nasseer Idrisi

Dr. Nasseer Idrisi was recently selected as the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Educator at Sea to sail aboard the JOIDES Resolution (JR), the newly equipped and modernized scientific ocean drilling research vessel supported by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).  He will be part of IODP Expedition 324 – Shatsky Rise Formation, scheduled to begin in Yokohama, Japan on 4 September 2009 and end in Townsville, Australia on 4 November 2009.

As the HBCU Educator at Sea, Dr. Idrisi will have the opportunity to experience life on board a scientific vessel and share his experiences in real-time with land-based audiences through the use of blogs, live videoconferencing and classroom activities.  He will also help increase awareness about the HBCU fellowship, reach out to HBCU institutions, school teachers and students from eighth grade to high school to encourage science and science-related professions, as well as promote IODP and the JR as effective, interactive earth systems science education tools.

“The HBCU Educator at Sea program is intended to highlight marine science careers and IODP science to students and faculty at HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions,” said Margo Morell, Assistant Director, Ocean Drilling Programs at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. “We are very pleased that Dr. Idrisi will lend his talents and expertise in helping us with this effort.”

Dr. Idrisi currently serves as a professor in the Marine and Environmental Science masters program and biological oceanographer for the University of the Virgin Islands. He completed his post-doctorate at the University of Miami, Miami, FL in biological oceanography examining zooplankton dynamics, and Ph.D. from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY in Aquatic Ecology, specializing in the impact of zebra mussels on the pelagic food web in a lake.  Dr. Idrisi received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science from the University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq in the field of Aquatic Biology and marine biology, respectively.

For more information on Expedition 324, visit http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/shatsky_rise.html.

About Consortium for Ocean Leadership

Ocean Leadership is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that represents 95 of the leading public and private ocean research education institutions, aquaria and industry with the mission to advance research, education and sound ocean policy. The organization also manages ocean research and education programs in areas of scientific ocean drilling, ocean observing, ocean exploration and ocean partnerships.

About the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

The JOIDES Resolution is a research vessel with unique capabilities for exploring and monitoring the subseafloor; it operates as part of the international Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). IODP is supported by two lead agencies, the U.S. National Science Foundation and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. Additional program support comes from the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), India (Ministry of Earth Sciences), the People’s Republic of China (Ministry of Science and Technology), the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, and the Australian-New Zealand IODP Consortium.  The U.S. Implementing Organization (USIO) for IODP is comprised of Texas A&M University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. The JOIDES Resolution is now poised to help IODP continue to push the envelope of science by collecting unique subseafloor samples and data that would otherwise remain out of reach to researchers.