Dan Walker (Study Director) obtained his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Tennessee in 1990. A Scholar at the Ocean Studies Board, Dr. Walker also holds a joint appointment as a Guest Investigator at the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Since joining the Ocean Studies Board in 1995, he has directed a number of studies including Future Needs in Deep Submergence Science: Occupied and Unoccupied Vehicles in Basic Ocean Research (2004), Environmental Information for Naval Warfare (2003), Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates and Effects (2002), Spills of Emulsified Fuels: Risks and Response (2002), Clean Coastal Waters: Understanding and Reducing the Effects of Nutrient Pollution (2000), Science for Decisionmaking: Coastal and Marine Geology at the U.S. Geological Survey (1999), Global Ocean Sciences: Toward an Integrated Approach (1998), and The Global Ocean Observing System: Users, Benefits, and Priorities (1997). A member of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the Oceanography Society, Dr. Walker was recently named Editor of the Marine Technology Society Journal. A former member of both the Kentucky and the North Carolina state geologic surveys, Dr. Walker’s interests focus on the value of environmental information for policy-making at local, state, and national levels.

Sarah Capote gained her B.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the winter of 2001. She is a senior program assistant with the Ocean Studies Board. During her tenure with the Board, Ms. Capote worked on the following reports: Exploration of the Seas: Voyage into the Unknown (2003), Nonnative Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay (2004), Future Needs in Deep Submergence Science: Occupied and Unoccupied Vehicles in Basic Ocean Research (2004), the interim report for Elements of a Science Plan for the North Pacific Research Board (2004), A Vision for the International Polar Year 2007–2008 (2004), Marine Mammal Populations and Ocean Noise: Determining When Noise Causes Biologically Significant Effects (2005), and Final Comments on the Science Plan for the North Pacific Research Board (2005).