Fall 2017 – Note from the Research Board Chair
– DECEMBER 18, 2017
(From Fall 2017 Newsletter) Dr. Rita Colwell, University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University
The GoMRI Research Board is pleased to announce Dispatches from the Gulf 2, second in the Dispatches from the Gulf documentary series produced by Screenscope Films in partnership with the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. The GoMRI Research Board supports communication and outreach activities that highlight GoMRI research, and the GoMRI partnership with Screenscope in producing the Dispatches from the Gulf series is an important component of that effort.
Dispatches from the Gulf 2 explores lingering scientific questions that GoMRI researchers seek to understand after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in 2010. Immediate impacts of oil on marine animals in the Gulf, including dolphins and sharks, and lasting effects of residual oil on these populations are under intense study. Impacts of dispersants are also a focus of GoMRI researchers. How the spill affected local communities relying on the Gulf of Mexico for their livelihoods is addressed in the documentary. A key question to which an answer is sought concerns the ability to model the path of oil in the ocean. The documentary also includes GoMRI- funded graduate students who play an important role in both the GoMRI program and in GoMRI’s legacy. While these points of study comprise only a snapshot of the extensive research supported by GoMRI, Dispatches from the Gulf 2 shares GoMRI’s unprecedented, interdisciplinary scientific research and education program.
The GoMRI Research Board gratefully acknowledges its continued partnership with Screenscope Films in creating these important documentaries and supplemental products. We hope you will enjoy this new release and find the film to be a useful resource. I encourage you to visit the Dispatches from the Gulf website to learn more.
