APPENDIX A Committee and Staff Biographies
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Joan Oltman-Shay is a senior research scientist for Northwest Research Associates, Inc., and an affiliate of the School of Oceanography, University of Washington. Dr. Oltman-Shay's areas of research include nearshore and inner shelf physical oceanography, such as wind-and wave-driven stresses; infragravity (surface) wave climatology, generation, and dissipation; and mean alongshore currents and current instabilities. She received her Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1986.
James Coleman received his Ph.D. in geology from Louisiana State University in 1966. Currently a Boyd professor for the Coastal Studies Institute of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Dr. Coleman's research interests focus on relationships among process, form, and sedimentary characteristics of recent environments, especially deltaic and offshore regions.
Arthur Green, a research scientist for the Exxon Exploration Company, received his M.S. in geology from the University of Oregon in 1962. His research involves the evolution of the Arctic and its hydrocarbon potential, integrated basin analysis methods, and regional tectonic analysis.
Susan Humphris received a Ph.D. in chemical oceanography in 1977 from the joint program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution. She currently serves as a senior scientist in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr. Humphris' research interests include the volcanic and tectonic controls on the distribution and characteristics of hydrothermal activity at mid-ocean ridges, the geochemistry of rock-water interactions, and the role of the associated hydrothermal fluxes in global geochemical mass balances.
Curt Mason, a senior coastal oceanographer with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, earned his M.S. in physical oceanography from Texas A&M in 1971. His primary research areas are beach erosion, storm impacts, and tidal inlet processes. Other activities include coordinating and prioritizing budget initiatives for new efforts in natural disaster reduction for the National Weather Service, National Ocean Service, National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, and Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research.
Neil Opdyke is a professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Florida. His primary areas of expertise include geology, paleomagnetism, and the evolution of the seafloor. Dr. Opdyke is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D in geology in 1958 from Durham University in England.
Nancy Rabalais obtained her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. She is a professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). Dr. Rabalais' research interests include biological oceanography, specifically continental shelf ecosystems influenced by large rivers, as well as estuarine and benthic ecology, environmental effects of habitat alterations, and environmental physiology.
Noel Tyler received his Ph.D in geology from Colorado State University in 1981. He is the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Tyler's research interests focus on sedimentary geology and oil and gas resource evaluation and recovery optimization in complex reservoir systems worldwide.
STAFF
Dan Walker received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Tennessee in 1990. He is currently a senior program officer with the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council. Dr. Walker's interests focus on the value of environmental information for policymaking.
Shari Maguire received her B.A. from Miami University in 1994. She currently serves as a senior project assistant with the Ocean Studies Board. Ms. Maguire is studying biological sciences at the University of Maryland in preparation for medical school.
Jodi Bachim received her B.S. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998. She is currently a project assistant with the Ocean Studies Board.