Spring 2018 – Note from the Research Board Chair
– JUNE 19, 2018
(From Spring 2018 Newsletter) Dr. Rita Colwell, University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University
GoMRI Community Recognizes the Eighth Anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
April 20, 2018 marked the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Each year on the anniversary, we remember the 11 people who lost their lives in this tragic event. With each anniversary, we also reflect on the contributions the GoMRI community is making to advance the state of knowledge of oil spill science. In eight years, GoMRI has facilitated six requests for proposals, funding nearly 4,000 researchers, including over 1,000 graduate students. As of 2018, GoMRI scientists have published a total of more than 1,000 peer reviewed journal articles and entered into the archives over 2,000 publicly available datasets. To commemorate the anniversary, an excellent summary of tools and resources that will be available from GoMRI-funded research was presented on the GoMRI website; the article can be read here.
Many GoMRI-funded consortia also marked the anniversary. A press release from the University of South Florida highlighted GoMRI and the scientific contributions made by the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem (C-IMAGE), funded by GoMRI since 2011. Additionally, the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE), the Relationships of Effects of Cardiac Outcomes in Fish for Validation of Ecological Risk (RECOVER), and the Consortium for Advanced Research on Marine Mammal Health Assessment (CARMMHA) recognized the anniversary by hosting local screenings of the Dispatches from the Gulf 2 documentary (visit page four of this issue for more information).
While reflecting on the past, GoMRI continues to look to the future. GoMRI’s Synthesis and Legacy efforts, a summary of which is provided on page one of this issue, will continue throughout the next two years of the program. The goal is to summarize and make available outcomes of this unprecedented research program so that the scientific and response communities can work together and be better prepared for any future spills. One of the ways that GoMRI plans to achieve this is through the recently released Request for Sample Analysis Funds, designed to complete the processing and analysis of samples on hand that might conclude hypothesis testing or allow exploration of new or unanticipated scientific questions or hypotheses. Please follow along on the GoMRI website and in these newsletters for updates and information as Synthesis and Legacy efforts progress.
