Cambridge, Md. (June 14, 2010) – President Barack Obama has announced that Dr. Donald F. Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, has been appointed to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
The bipartisan Commission, established through an Executive Order, is tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent – and mitigate the impact of – any future spills that result from offshore drilling. The Council is co-chaired by former two-term Florida Governor and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency William K. Reilly.
“As one of the nation’s leading authorities on coastal environmental issues, Don Boesch will bring valuable scientific expertise and practical knowledge to the work of the Commission,” said University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan. “Moreover, as a native of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, he knows the region well and the impact this catastrophe will have on the people and the ecology of Louisiana and the surrounding states.”
Donald “Don” Boesch is the President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, where he is also a Professor of Marine Science and Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland. Dr. Boesch assumed the position of President in 1990. From 1980 to 1990, he served as the first Executive Director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and worked as a Professor of Marine Science at Louisiana State University. Dr. Boesch is a biological oceanographer who has conducted research on coastal ecosystems along the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Australia and the East China Sea. A native of Louisiana, he has assessed the long-term environmental effects of offshore oil and gas development and multiple environmental problems of the Gulf Coast. A pioneer in the study of the environmental effects of offshore energy development, Dr. Boesch edited the seminal 1987 work, Long-Term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development. He has served as science advisor to many state and federal agencies and regional, national and international programs. Dr. Boesch is also Chair of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council and a member of the National Academies Committee on America's Climate Choices. He holds a B.S. from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary. Dr. Boesch was also a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia.
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is the University System of Maryland’s environmental research institution. UMCES researchers are helping improve our scientific understanding of Maryland, the region and the world through five research centers – Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, and the Maryland Sea Grant College in College Park.
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Statements from Regional Leaders on Dr. Boesch's Appointment:
Media Contact: David Nemazie, 443-496-0187