The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative From Response to Coordinated - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Consortium for Ocean Leadership Policy Forum March 7 2012 Margaret Leinen Vice-Chair, GoMRI

From Response to Coordinated Research

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Deepwater Horizon

Credit: US Chemical Safety Board

Origin

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative was announced by BP in May 2010 BP pledged $500M in research funding to be administered using a peer-reviewed process over a 10 year period under the independent management of a Research Board BP announced the first six members of the Research Board, chaired by Rita Colwell, in May 2010 The Research Board was subsequently expanded to 20 members with 10 members being appointed by BP and 10 members appointed by the Governors of the 5 Gulf States.

Mission

The mission of Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is to implement an independent research program that will (1) Study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon incident and the potential associated impact of this and similar incidents on the environment and public health and (2) Develop improvements for spill mitigation, oil detection and characterization, and advanced remediation technologies.

Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Research Themes

1. Physical distribution and ultimate fate of contaminants associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident 2. Chemical evolution and biological degradation of the contaminants 3. Environmental effects of the contaminants on Gulf of Mexico ecosystems, and the science of ecosystem recovery 4. Technology developments for improved detection, characterization, mitigation, and remediation of offshore

• il spills

5. Impacts of oil spills on public health

Research Board

• Rita Colwell – UMD & JHU

– Chair

• Margaret Leinen – FAU

– Vice Chair

• Debra Benoit – Nicholls State U
• Peter Brewer – MBARI
• Richard Dodge – NOVA SE U
• John Farrington – WHOI
• Kenneth Halanych – Auburn
• David Halpern – NASA
• William Hogarth – FIO
• Jörg Imberger – U Western

Australia, Australia

• Raymond Orbach – UT-Austin
• Jürgen Rullkötter – University of

Oldenburg, Germany

• David Shaw – MSU
• John Shepherd – University of

Southampton, UK

• Bob Shipp – U South Alabama
• Burton Singer – U Florida
• Ciro Sumaya – Texas A&M
• Dennis Wiesenburg – USM
• Charles Wilson – LSU
• Dana Yoerger – WHOI
• Michael Carron – GOMA

– Ex Officio

Scientific Integrity

• GoMRI uses National Science Board peer evaluation protocols to

select funded research

• Independent reviews by scientific peers not affiliated with institutions

who propose projects or with BP to avoid conflict of interest in the selection of funded research

• All reviewers sign conflict of interest and non-disclosure statements
• BP has no role in the peer-review process or selection of awardees
• Individual researchers will comply with professional standards as

defined by the National Academies of Science

• All GoMRI-funded researchers conduct independent and objective

work with no influence from BP

• Researchers independently publish their results in peer-reviewed

scientific journals with no requirement for BP approval

Year One Block Grants

• To allow rapid research response $45M was

provided directly from BP to the Gulf States and to the National Institutes of Health to establish critical baseline data as the foundation for subsequent research

• Block grant recipients included:

– Louisiana State University – Florida Institute of Oceanography – Northern Gulf Institute – Alabama Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium – National Institutes of Health

• Alabama State
• Auburn
• Dauphin Island Sea Lab
• Florida A&M
• Florida Atlantic
• Florida Gulf Coast University
• Florida Institute of

Technology

• Florida International

University

• Florida State University
• Harte Research Institute
• Jackson State University
• Jacksonville State University
• Louisiana State University
• Mississippi State University
• Mote Marine Lab
• National Institutes of Health
• Nova Southeastern

University

• Samford University
• Troy University
• Tuskegee University
• University of Alabama
• U. Alabama at Birmingham
• U. Alabama at Huntsville
• U. Alabama at Tuscaloosa
• University of Central Florida
• University of Florida
• University of Miami
• University of Mississippi
• University of New Orleans
• University of South Alabama
• University of South Florida
• U. of Southern Mississippi
• University of West Alabama
• University of West Florida
• 33 institutions total

.

RFP-III (Summer Sampling)

• University of South Florida
• Johns Hopkins University
• Auburn University
• University of Georgia

Research Foundation

• Texas Tech University
• University of Southern

Mississippi

• LSU Agriculture Center
• University of Louisiana at

Lafayette

• Texas AgriLife Research
• Dauphin Island Sea Lab
• Florida State University
• Mississippi State University
• Louisiana State University
• Woods Hole Oceanographic

Institute To ensure continuity of observations and sampling while the peer-review of consortium proposals was underway, $1.5 million in grants were issued in June 2011 to the following institutions through our peer-reviewed process:

WHOI USF Johns Hopkins Auburn GA Research Foundation Texas Tech USM ULL Texas AgriLife DISL FSU MSU LSU Tulane

RFP-I (Consortia)

• RFP released in April 2011 for proposals from consortia of

four or more institutions for interdisciplinary approaches to the research themes over 3 years

• 76 proposals received proposing more than $500M
• $112.5M awarded August 2011 to 8 consortia over 3 years
• Consortia represent 96 academic and research

institutions from 24 states and three foreign countries

• Awards included cruise-intensive research, modeling-

intensive research, field-intensive and lab/technology intensive research

Yr-1, RFP-I and RFP-III

GoMRI Funds Awarded as of December 31, 2011

RFP-II (PI-based)

• RFP – II released in December 2011
• Single projects with up to 3 co-

investigators

• $100,000 – $1,000,000 each
• $7.5M/year for 3 years
• 630 Letters of Intent received
• Proposal deadline is March 8

Data Management Policy Guiding Principles

• Timely submission of data and model outputs by RC and Principal

Investigators (PIs) to the GoMRI “Research Database”

• Timely submission of data to existing national repositories
• Data, results, and ancillary information are made fully accessible to

the public with minimum time delay

• Use of existing data standards and management systems as much

as practicable

• Ensure data interoperability to the greatest extent possible
• Employ best practices for data policy and data management as

elucidated by NSF and NOAA or other agency appropriate for the topic of study

• A strong commitment to data management by each RC and

participating PI

GoMRI Annual Meeting

• Jan 21 – 25, 2013
• New Orleans Marriott
• NSF, NIH, NOAA participating
• Call for papers April 2012

RFP-I (Consortia)

• The Impact of Biological, Physical and Chemical

Processes on the Fate of Oil Spills – Bridging Small-Scale Processes with Meso-Scale Modeling – University of Texas at Austin - Marine Science Institute

• Gulf of Mexico Integrated Spill Response Consortium

– Texas A&M University at College Station

• Deepsea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of

Mexico – Florida State University

• The Effects of the Macondo Oil Spill on Coastal

Ecosystems – Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium

RFP-I (Consortia)

• Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf

Ecosystems – University of South Florida

• Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of

Hydrocarbons in the Environment – University of Miami

• The Science and Technology of Dispersants as Relevant

to Deep-Sea Oil Releases – Tulane University

• Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf

– University of Mississippi

The Impact of Biological, Physical and Chemical Processes on the Fate

• f Oil Spills – bridging small scale processes with meso-scale

modeling (DROPPS) Lead Investigator: Edward J. Buskey

SINTEF, Norway Minnesota Wisconsin Clarkson PENN JHU Increasing velocity

• U. Texas

Gulf of Mexico Integrated Spill Response Consortium (GISR) Lead Investigator: Piers Chapman, Ph.D.

MIT Stanford Berkeley NC State UT Austin WHOI Hawaii Manoa Maryland GIT TAMU

Lead Investigator: Eric Chassignet, FSU Deepsea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Deep-C)

Dauphin Island Sea Lab FIO GIT NRL

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

USF West Florida Miami SAIC WHOI FSU

The Effects of the Macondo Oil Spill on Coastal Ecosystems Lead Investigator: Nancy N. Rabalais, LUMCON

BYU Connecticut College Florida Gulf Coast LSU WHOI Rutgers Maryland Tennessee VIMS UNC LSU Ag LUMCON Lafayette

Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem (C-Image) Lead Investigator: Steve Murawski, Ph.D.

Eckerd West Florida FIO Texas A&M Miami Mote

University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

South Alabama

Hamburg University

University

• f Calgary

Wageningen University, Netherlands

USF Scripps Penn State

Consortium for Advanced Research of Hydrocarbon Transport in the Environment (CARTHE) Lead Investigator: Tamay Özgökmen, Ph.D.

UT Austin Texas A&M University FSU Delaware University of Arizona NRL Naval Postgraduate School Tulane College of Staten Island Nova Deltares FIO

• U. Miami

The Science and Technology of Dispersants as Relevant to Deep Sea Oil Releases (C-MED) Lead Investigator: Vijay T. John, Ph.D.

Austin Arizona State Auburn USF Minnesota Maryland NC State NY City U. LSU USM FIU Brown Carnegie Mellon Georgetown Michigan Princeton Colorado UMASS URI Buffalo Houston Tulane

Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG) Lead Investigator: Raymond Highsmith, Ph.D.

Austin GaTech FSU Penn State Venter Institute Maryland UNC Oregon State Columbia USM Georgia UC Berkeley Temple

• U. Miss