LSU Experts Available to Assist Media Covering the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Below are several university researchers with expertise on this subject. Please continue to check the list, as resources will be added.

Environmental Impact

Chris D’Elia, dean and professor, School of the Coast & Environment
225-578-7188, cdelia@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: Nutrient dynamics in aquatic systems; estuarine ecology; coral reef ecology; algal/invertebrate symbiosis; science history and policy; math and science education; marine pollution; global climate change; analytical chemistry.

Linda Hooper-Bui, associate professor, Department of Environmental Sciences
225-578-1832, lindabui@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: Community structure, niche theory, disturbance/disaster ecology and multi-stressors in ecosystems, climate change and sea-level rise, intricate details of basic biology about how insects and spiders survive stressors, food webs and nutrient dynamics – from large scale to minuscule.

Emily Maung-Douglass, oil spill specialist, Louisiana Sea Grant
225-578-9926, edouglass@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: Chemical evolution and breakdown of petroleum and dispersants in the environment as well as their interactions with the ecosystem.

Edward Overton, emeritus professor, Department of Environmental Sciences 
225-578-8634, ebovert@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: Analytical-Environmental Chemistry – trace organic analyses using high resolution separation techniques and high resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; environmental monitoring; environmental analyses and their associated data interpretation; management and presentation techniques; application of analytical techniques and chemical principles to emergency spill responses; chemical hazard evaluations and risk assessments; analytical instrument development for use with hazardous chemical spill incidents, ambient environmental monitoring and monitoring in closed (indoor) environments; development of methods to detect, assess and mitigate environmental chemical hazards

Ralph Portier, professor, Department of Environmental Sciences
225-578-4287, rportie@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: Aquatic and marine toxicology; bioremediation; oil spills (including Valdez); protocol for assessing bioremediation techniques; wastewater bioremediation

Eugene Turner, LSU Boyd Professor, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Studies
225-578-6326,  euturne@lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Biological oceanography, conservation, environmental management, estuarine ecology, fisheries ecology, restoration, sustainable systems, wetlands.

Prosanta Chakrabarty, curator of fishes, LSU Museum of Natural Science
225-578-3079, prosanta@lsu.edu
Areas of Expertise: deep sea fish in Gulf, including those that live near oil platforms; systematics of marine and freshwater fishes

Rex Caffey, director of marine extension, professor and director, Center for Natural Resource Economics & Policy
225-578-2393, rcaffey@agcenter.lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Natural Resource Economics.

Julie Lively, assistant professor, specialist, fisheries, Louisiana Sea Grant
225-578-0771, janderson@agcenter.lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Marine chemical cue ecology, crab biology, and marine invasive species.

Ashley Mullens, extension associate, LSU AgCenter
225-578-7415, awmullens@agcenter.lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Youth wetlands expert.

Andy Nyman, professor, School of Renewable Natural Resources
225- 578-4220, njnyman@lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Response of coastal marshes to sea-level rise or petroleum pollution, waterbirds, Spartina patens leaf tissue chemistry, denitrification.

Mark Shirley, area agent, LSU AgCenter
337-898-4335, mshirley@agcenter.lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Marsh Maneuvers program.

Pat Skinner, instructor — extension specialist, LSU AgCenter
225-578-2910, pskinner@lsu.edu
Areas of expertise: Disaster Programs, including natural hazards, technological hazard and plant, animal and food biosecurity.

Engineering

Darryl Bourgoyne, former director, Petroleum Engineering Research and Technology Transfer, or PERTT, Lab
Darryl@DarrylAndrewBourgoyne.com
Areas of Specialization: deep water drilling engineering, managed pressure drilling, unbalanced drilling, well control and blowout prevention.

Richard Hughes, professional in residence, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering
225-578-6038, rghughes@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: Co2-enhanced oil recovery and carbon sequestration, offshore oil spill risk scenarios, reservoir engineering, natural gas engineering.

Francisco R. Hung, associate professor, Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
225-578-3546, frhung@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: materials science, computations and systems, environmentally-benign dispersants to combat oil spills.

John H. Pardue, director of the Louisiana Water Resources Institute, Elizabeth Howell Stewart Endowed Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
225-578-8661, jpardue@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: biological remediation, wetlands, environmental chemistry, fate and transport of contaminants, environmental engineering.

John Rogers Smith, professor emeritus, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering  
225-578-0412, jsmith5@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: deep water drilling engineering, managed pressure drilling and unbalanced drilling, well control and blowout prevention, well design.

Chandra Theegala, professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, LSU AgCenter
225-578-1060, ctheegala@agcenter.lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: agriculture bioproduct utilization, waste treatment and management, biosensors.

Louis J. Thibodeauxprofessor emeritus, Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
225-578-3055, thibod@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: chemodynamics, chemical separations, multimedia environmental modeling, bedsediment remediation.

Kalliat T. Valsarajvice president of research & economic development, Charles & Hilda Roddey Distinguished Professor, IKE East Professor, Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
225-578-5833, valsaraj@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: environmental chemical engineering, modeling the fate and transport of contaminants in all three environmental media (air, water, soil, sediment).

Community Resilience

Craig E. Colten, Carl O. Sauer Professor, Department of Geography and Anthropology
225-578-6180, ccolten@lsu.edu
Areas of expertise:  human dimensions of hazards, historical geography, community resilience and adaptation.

Policy

David Dismukesexecutive director, professor, Center for Energy Studies, Department of Environmental Sciences
225-578-4343, dismukes@lsu.edu
Areas of Specialization: analysis of economic, statistical and public policy issues in energy and regulated industries.