Program Update: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative – March 2012
The GoMRI Dispersion Research on Oil: Physics and Plankton Studies (DROPPS) Consortium held their kickoff meeting on March 8-9, 2012 at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas. Each DROPPS consortium PI gave a short presentation on their proposed research, which sparked lively discussion about how they will all work together under this program. Johns Hopkins informed the group that the university’s Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering provided Dr. Katz with about $450,000 to construct an 1100 sq. ft. oil-spills research laboratory.
The GoMRI Consortium for the Molecular Engineering of Dispersant Systems (CMEDS) held its first annual meeting on March 25, 2012 in conjunction with the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, California. Researchers from the 22 partner institutions, as well as members of the CMEDS advisory board, provided overviews of their research. During a session at the ACS meeting, CMEDS scientific work was presented in greater detail. Several graduate students presented research during this session.
GoMRI will hold a Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference on January 21-23, 2013 in New Orleans. The conference is open to the research and stakeholder communities. A call for proposals for sessions will be announced later in April. Registration will open in June. For more information on the themes of the conference, click here.
Check out the GoMRI Collaboration Forum to learn about opportunities to share resources, data, ship time and equipment!
