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NOAA Deputy Administrator Visits NGI

February 6, 2012

Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observations and Prediction and Deputy Administrator for NOAA visited the Stennis Space Center on January 25th. The visit was arranged by NOAA's National Data Buoy Center leadership, led by Director Helmut Portmann. The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) hosted an interagency poster session and brown bag lunch discussion in the new MSU Science and Technology Center. The visit yielded great interest and promise of future support and interaction between NOAA and NGI.

Dr. Robert Moorhead, NGI Director, and Dr. Steve Ashby, NGI Associate Director provided an overview of NGI activities and discussed potential interagency capabilities at the Science and Technology Center. Representative presentations from NGI included an overview by Sharon Hodge (NGI) on the NOAA/NGI Diversity Internship Program and a technical poster presentation by Dr. Monty Graham of University of Southern Mississippi of NGI research entitled, "Using zooplankton community distribution to identify large marine ecosystem sub-units within the Northern Gulf of Mexico."

Dr. Sullivan met with members of the National Data Buoy Center's executive staff to discuss the history and day-to-day operations of NDBC, followed by a tour of the buoy assembly areas and laboratories. Other NOAA visitors included; Laura Furgione, Deputy Assistant Administrator National Weather Service, Mark Paese, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, Craig McLean, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Atmospheric Research, and Richard Vogt, Acting Director, NWS Office of Operational Systems.

National Marine Fisheries Services, Dr. Lisa Desfosse, Director, SEFSC Mississippi Laboratories, described activities at the Labs. Dr. Redwood Nero presented turtle track modeling and bluefin tuna spawning location modeling. Charles Thompson presented automated video processing. Amy Clark provided an overview of the B-WET education and outreach program.

NOAA's National Coastal Data Development Center gave three poster presentations: Collaborative Data Analysis - Gulf of Mexico Data Atlas, Collaborative Science - Deepwater Horizon Support, and Collaborative Information Management - NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

Dr. Julien Lartigue, NOAA NGI Science Coordinator and NOAA's Coastal Services Center, provided an overview on the Center's activities in the Gulf region. Dr. Alyssa Dausmann, USGS, provided a presentation on the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.

Photo description: Dr. Ashby (second from left) provides an overview of NGI activities and potential interagency capabilities at the MSU Science and Technology Center to Mark Paese and Dr. Sullivan (center) and other NOAA visitors.