MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY CAPABILITIES
Mississippi State University (MSU), the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station
(MAFES), and Forest and Wildlife Research Center (FWRC) have research facilities and
researchers throughout the state. NSF ranks MSU’s agricultural and forestry research 7th
nationally among in terms of expenditures, surpassing far larger states. Famous for its applied
research, this team of biological experts is well positioned to respond to the impacts of the oil
spill with real-world solutions.
PROPOSED MSU MEMBERS FOR MRC Oil Spill Response Team:
Mississippi State University
Research:
Dr. Michael Carron
Director, Northern Gulf Institute
Bldg. 1103 Rm. 233
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529
(228) 688 3228 (O), (228) 342 6086 (C)
mcarron@ngi.msstate.edu
Extension:
Dr. Joe Street
Assoc. Director, MSU Extension Service
P.O. Box 9601
Miss. State, MS 39762
(662) 325-3034
jstreet@ext.msstate.edu
MSU MRC Officers
Dr. David Shaw, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Mississippi State
University, 662-325-3570; dshaw@research.msstate.edu.
CAPABILITIES
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY:
Northern Gulf Institute
Contact: Mike Carron, mcarron@ngi.msstate.edu, (228) 688 3228 (O); (228) 342 6086 (C).
The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Cooperative Institute of five collaborative academic research institutions led by Mississippi
State University partnering with University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University,
Florida State University, and Dauphin Island Sea Lab (Alabama). NGI has established MOAs
with NOAA, Sea Grant, Harte Research Institution (TAMU), and the MS Department of Marine
Resources (representing the governor’s Gulf of Mexico Alliance). NGI can facilitate and
simplify the transfer of funds from NOAA and other government agencies directly to
MSU scientists and engineers and researchers at our partner universities.
Immediate Response by Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) partners (Mississippi State University,
Louisiana State University, Florida State University, University of Southern Mississippi, and
Dauphin Island Sea Lab):
1 •
•
•
•
•
•
•
NGI Ecosystem data Assembly Center (EDAC) Server (in collaboration with the NOAA
National Coastal Data Development Center) provides up-to-date Navy ocean models to
NOAA operational units
Remote Sensing Imagery processing ocean-current models and measurements and
delivers up-to-date data sets to the Deep Water Horizon incident responders
Ongoing baseline habitat and animal sampling and assessment for response and
recovery efforts
Ongoing oil burn smoke cloud modeling for response and recovery efforts
Active collaboration with NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaboration Team for
informed and coordinated efforts
NGI economists actively support NOAA’s impact assessments and collaboration with the
Economic Development Administration
NGI director met (May 11) with Dr. Larry Robinson, NOAA Assistant Secretary, David
Kennedy, NOAA Office Of Ocean And Coastal Resource Management, Dr. Bonnie
Ponwith - Director of NOAA’s SE Fisheries Science Center, and Dr. Nancy Thompson,
Science Director, Northeast Fisheries Science Center to coordinate NGI actions with the
NOAA requirements to respond to the Deepwater Horizon incident.
These immediate actions and partnerships position NGI to quickly move forward and provide
leadership in regional recovery and impact monitoring.
College of Veterinary Medicine
Contact: Carla Huston, DVM, PhD., Dipl. ACVPM, huston@cvm.msstate.edu, 662-3251183 (O).
The College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) serves as a support agency under the State’s
emergency management plan Emergency Support Function (ESF-11) for agriculture and natural
resources. The CVM has a Disaster Response Team that has been actively involved in the
state’s preparedness for this event under the direction of the Mississippi Board of Animal Health
(MBAH). Dr. Carla Huston serves as the Veterinary Services Branch Director for the State’s
Animal Response Team and is coordinating all veterinary and veterinary technical volunteers.
Representatives from the MBAH have been on-site at the Emergency Operations Center on the
coast to assess the needs pertaining to birds, mammals and other wildlife.
a. Team members have completed Incident Command Training and are in compliance with
the Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System
responder requirements. Personnel are available to serve the state in both clinical as
well as emergency management positions.
b. Veterinarians and veterinary students have been organized to respond as needed to the
oiled bird and mammal recovery and response. The CVM maintains a cache of supplies
and pharmaceuticals that can be utilized in the event of a deployment or response.
2)
Response.
a. Veterinarians and veterinary students have unique training in personal protective
equipment, hazardous materials, public health and animal care.
2 b. Volunteers from the CVM have taken additional training modules in hazardous material
handling and safety in order to respond as needed to the oiled bird and mammal
recovery and response.
c. Faculty experienced population medicine and ecology are available to assist in both
short-term and long-term studies of the effects of hazardous materials in birds and
mammals. This includes epidemiologists, diagnosticians/clinicians, pathologists, and
others.
3) Monitoring and Recovery.
a. Researchers at CVM are able to assist in environmental monitoring and site
characterization.
b. The immune system is often a sensitive indicator of environmental stress, and MSU CVM
scientists (Dr. Lora Petri-Hanson, Dr. Larry Hanson, Dr. Mark Lawrence, and Dr. Attila
Karsi) have substantial experience in fish immunology and infectious diseases. Similar
expertise is also available from CVM faculty at the Thad Cochran Center for Warmwater
Aquaculture in Stoneville, MS (Dr. Lester Khoo, Dr. Pat Gaunt, and Dr. Mike Mauel). If
samples can be provided, assessment of immunological and infectious disease processes
could be provided to evaluate short and long term effects. Similar expertise is available
with regard to immunological and parasitological-characterization of birds (Dr. Todd
Pharr and Dr. Linda Pote). Similar capabilities also exist for any mammals that might be
exposed (Dr. Stephen Pruett). We can also evaluate molecular changes using next
generation sequencing or proteomics. Dr. Shane Burgess, who directs the Life Sciences
and Biotechnology Institute here, has expertise and equipment for both of these types
of analysis. We also have a unique capability to do detailed pathological analysis to
identify changes in particular organ systems, in feather structure, or other changes
mediated by exposure to petroleum. Pathologists at CVM and the Mississippi Veterinary
Research and Diagnostic Labs in Stoneville and Pearl MS can perform necropsy to assess
cause of death as well as monitor cellular changes over time with exposure. This may
be particularly important because exposure to oil may not directly cause mortality but
might increase susceptibility to particular infections. This cannot be effectively
determined except by a complete necropsy. Several board-certified Veterinary
Pathologists are available for such studies.
c. Dr. Henry Wan is interested in evaluating microbial populations and their changes in
response to this spill. In addition to his training in microbiology, he is a computational
biologist and can develop mathematical models to describe and ultimately predict effects
of contamination on microbial populations.
4) Education and Outreach.
a. Faculty members, including wildlife specialists and toxicologists, are prepared to serve as
subject matter experts for the official federal responding agencies.
b. Educational materials have been distributed to communities, including veterinary clinics,
on the rescue, treatment, and recovery of oiled animals.
Extension Service
Contact: Joe Street, jstreet@ext.msstate.edu, 662-325-0676
As a unit of MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, the MSU Extension
Service is prepared to assist disaster responders and communities impacted by the oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico.
3 •
Every county in Mississippi has an Extension Service office and agents trained to provide
community education and outreach including food safety and nutrition information,
housing recommendations and counseling to families, businesses and local governments
as well as environmental monitoring and damage assessment. While the financial impact
of the disaster remains unknown, Extension FCS Agents can offer guidance in coping
with sudden drops in family income and commercial resources. One example is Healthy
Homes where families are provided information on clean up from contamination. MSU
Extension is closely associated with other units within DAFVM to disseminate research
based information developed in response to the disaster.
•
About 280 of MSU’s Extension faculty and staff are trained in the Incident Command
System, or ICS, that is required for individuals responding to a disaster area. Hazmat
training is scheduled for the first week of June to provide additional training for
personnel involved in clean-up efforts.
•
MSU Extension Service’s Center for Governmental Technology is the ICS training arm for
Mississippi. The state plan outlines 15 essential emergency support functions (ESF).
MSU’s responsibilities are within the designated functions of ESF #6 -- Mass Care,
Housing and Human Services, and ESF #11 -- Animal and Natural Resources. This
includes recovery assistance for sheltering, nutrition, food safety, financial management,
child development, and animal containment. Extension Disaster Assessment Strike
Teams have the capability to assess damage to land and wildlife. We have seven team
members who are HAZMAT trained.
•
MSU Extension Service is a partner in the Extension Disaster and Emergency Network
(EDEN) which provides disaster preparedness information and collaborative capabilities
with other universities. The five Gulf States Extension Directors have asked EDEN to
utilize its infrastructure and expand its Oil Spill response efforts to include identifying
regional expertise in a number of subject matter areas, providing programmatic
guidance and resources for the Extension systems (both Cooperative and Sea Grant)
and extending information to the public through the Extension website.
•
Extension Service personnel, working with representatives of MSU’s College of
Veterinary Medicine and the Forest and Wildlife Research Center, are prepared and
trained to assist in animal and environmental needs.
•
Specialists at MSU’s Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi have been closely
involved in the monitoring of the current situation in the Gulf. They are providing
quality, unbiased information to the public. If needed, the center can provide a
teleconferencing and meeting location for responders to the disaster area.
•
MSU Extension has a history of cooperating extensively with Alcorn State University in
southwest Mississippi which is the other land grant institution in the state.
•
MSU Extension Service is providing HAZMAT training and Incident Command System
(ICS) training.
4 Needs:
•
Personnel and fiscal resources may be diverted from normal work activities to those
addressing disaster and related issues. This will reduce productivity.
•
Miscellaneous materials and supplies will be needed to respond to disaster needs.
Coastal Research Extension Center
Contact: Dr. Patricia Knight, Tricia@ra.msstate.edu, 228-388-4710.
Three Coastal Research and Extension Center Scientists have been directly involved in the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Those employees are: Ben Posadas, Dave Burrage, and Mark
Woodrey.
Dr. Ben Posadas
•
•
On April 30, 2010, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources requested Dr.
Posadas to represent the department at the NOAA Technical Working Group on Human
Use Impacts of the MS Canyon 252 (Deepwater Horizon) oil spill. For now, this group
has started daily benchmark monitoring of human uses of the state's marine resources
since Thursday, May 7, 2010.
A new CREC webpage has been under development to provide economic information
about the potential economic impacts of the oil spill to the state of Mississippi,
http://coastal.msstate.edu/nreoilspillimpacts.htm
Mr. Dave Burrage
•
•
•
Mr. Burrage has fielded calls and worked with seafood industry clientele since the
beginning of the spill.
We have engaged the Vietnamese-American community which would be an otherwise
unreached audience.
The Electronic Logbook Program has been used to document and mitigate the effects of
fishery closures on the Gulf shrimp fishery. Mr. Burrage’s input was critical in the
opening of some areas for sport fishing to mitigate the impact of the spill on the
industry.
Dr. Mark Woodrey
•
Dr. Woodrey is currently engaged in an on-going research project concerning the
ecology of secretive marsh birds in coastal marshes in Mississippi. This is a collaborative
effort with Dr. Bob Cooper at the University of Georgia and we currently have a
graduate student and technician engaged in field research. This work is currently being
funded through the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Activities including monitoring bird
5 •
•
•
populations since 2005, detailed ecological studies of Clapper Rails, and detailed
ecological studies of Seaside Sparrows.
Officially nominated by Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to serve as a
Trustee on the Avian (Bird) Workgroup. This involves daily conference calls to providing
technical guidance for the development of Natural Resource Damage Assessments from
the bird perspective
Serving as a technical member of the Marsh Bird Sub-Working Group to develop
sampling protocols to evaluate the long-term ecological effects of the oil spill on ecology
of secretive marsh birds.
I am currently coordinating the collection of environmental monitoring data for pre-spill
assessment at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Sampling efforts
include marsh fishes, bird counts, submerged Aquatic vegetation, water quality data,
oysters, diamondback terrapin nesting surveys, periwinkle snails, fiddler crabs, and
photo-monitoring.
Coastal Research and Extension Center Capabilities include the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assessment of economic impacts of natural disasters -- Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and
Gustav in 2008 -- http://coastal.msstate.edu/disaster.html
Assessment of community economic recovery -- selected 20 counties and parishes from
Tallahassee to Hammond -- http://curis.msstate.edu/economicrecovery.html
Assessment of community economic preparedness -- selected 20 counties and parishes
from Tallahassee to Hammond -- http://curis.msstate.edu/economicpreparedness.html
Assessment of community disaster preparedness -- selected 20 counties and parishes
from Tallahassee to Hammond -- http://curis.msstate.edu/disasterpreparedness.html
Will continue to respond to concerns and questions from the seafood industry about the
oil spill.
Will continue to provide information as it becomes available to the seafood industry.
Will work with the underserved Vietnamese population involved in the seafood industry.
Expertise and vast experience with conducting research on the birdlife of the Gulf coast.
Extensive experience with research and habitats used by coastal birdlife; we have the
ONLY long-term marsh bird data set on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Work directly with colleagues at the University of Georgia who have strong sampling
design and data analysis skills.
High degree of familiarity with coastal habitats of Mississippi.
High degree of familiarity with various natural resource professionals on the MS Gulf
Coast.
Have two “extra” boats which could be used for field work on MS Gulf Coast; however,
they both need outboard motors and new trailers.
Capability to monitor Gulf coast seafood for the influence of the oil spill on pathogen
levels.
Ability to research and provide information concerning coastal ecological impacts of the
oil spill.
Research laboratories and facilities, computerized classrooms, animal and plant
researchers, and high-speed communication capabilities throughout the state and a
presence in every county via Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station and
Mississippi State University –Extension Service.
6 Social Science Research Center
Contact: Art Cosby, arthur.cosby@ssrc.msstate.edu, 662-325-8587.
The SSRC has a long history of researching human and community aspects of disasters,
including the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill (over 20 years of research), Hurricane Katrina, and the
San Diego County Wildfires of 2007.
1. The Wolfgang Frese Survey Research Laboratory (SRL) has the capacity for
consistently monitoring the coastal population of the Gulf of Mexico via computer
assisted telephone interviewing and web-based surveys.
2. The Facilitation for the Advanced Collaborative Solutions (FACS) has the
capacity to conduct computer assisted group processes for focus groups, strategic
planning, and conflict resolution on issues associated with the Deepwater Horizon
technological incident.
3. The Family and Children Research Unit (FCRU) has the capacity to monitor and
help mediate impacts upon family and children along the coast with special focus on
vulnerable populations.
4. The Media Laboratory has the capacity to monitor and analyze the communications,
including crisis communications, associated with the oil leak. The laboratory has begun
initial monitoring.
Other Capabilities/Expertise at MSU:
•
GeoSystems Research Institute
o High-resolution modeling of coastal hydrodynamics, wind fields, plumes from
burning oil, and soil slick trajectories
o Remote sensing of water quality, Oil/water interaction, and vegetation stress
o Data source for past/current/future status of water qualities (optical and
biological)
o Coastal plant ecology expertise
o Extensive expertise in visualizing disparate datasets in common view volume to
assist analysts in understanding dataset interactions
o Extensive GIS expertise, proven in Hurricane Katrina response
o Analysis of hyperspectral imagery (HIS), as well as multispectral imagery
o Cleared employees, capable of dealing with imagery collected by DoD, DHS, and
National Guard assets
Contact: Robert Moorhead, rjm@gri.msstate.edu, 662-325-2850.
•
Department of Geosciences
Geospatial imaging, climatologically and meteorological observations and forecasting in
collaboration with NGI.
Contact Darrel Schmitz, schmitz@ra.msstate.edu, 662-325-3915.
7 •
Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET)
Water Analysis, Baseline Environmental Monitoring, Ground-level long-wavelength
infrared imaging, Biosorption of oil spill and related contaminants, Methane Hydrates
Glenn Steele, steele@me.msstate.edu, 662-325-7305.
Jeff Lindner, lindner@icet.msstate.edu, 662-325-7641.
•
Office of the State Chemist and MSU Chemical Laboratory
The MSU Chemical Lab is a component of the State’s Emergency Response Laboratory
network and provides surge capacity support to other state agencies. Expertise includes
chemical analysis (fingerprinting) of complex mixtures and identification of unknown
chemical contaminants in complex mixtures. The lab has extensive instrumentation and
expertise for documenting chemical analysis.
Contact: Kevin Armbrust, armbrust@mscl.msstate.edu, 662-325-3324 (o); 662-418-9458
(C).
•
MSU Coastal Research & Extension Center
Outreach to stakeholders, first responders, fisheries response.
Contact: Dave Burrage,daveb@ext.msstate.edu, 228-546-1028
•
College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries
Environmental Monitoring, Remote Sensing, Sediment Analysis, fisheries analyses
Contact: Dr. Jim Shepard, College of Forest Resources, jshepard@CFR.msstate.edu,
662-325-2781 (o); 662-722-0763 (C).
•
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Analytical Analysis
Contact: Ken Willeford, kwilleford@bch.msstate.edu, 662-325-2651
•
Department of Landscape Architecture
Community Planning, Landscape Perspective
Contact: Wayne Wilkerson, gww@ra.msstate.edu, 662-325-7900
•
College of Education, Dept. of Counseling and Educational Psychology
Crisis counseling
Contact: Daniel Wai Chung Wong, dwong@colled.msstate.edu, 662-325-7928.
•
College of Ag and Life Sciences, Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion
Monitoring of fish and seafood quality
Contact: Benjy Mikel, wmikel@fsnhp.msstate.edu, 662-325-5508.
•
Life Science and Biotechnology Institute (LSBI)
8 Dr. Shane Burgess at the Life Science and Biotechnology Institute is working with DoD
ERDC in Vicksburg using the water flea (Dpahnia magna) as a biosensor for
environmental toxicology. It is a highly sensitive system. We could employee tests such
as these through the LSBI since it is appropriate for this situation.
Contact: Shane Burgess, burgess@cvm.msstate.edu, 662-325-0533.
•
College of Engineering
The Mississippi State University Bagley College of Engineering’s response consists of five major
elements which include the following:
1) Coastal monitoring and mapping, including remote sensing via aircraft and spacecraft,
with particular expertise in mapping and characterization of vegetation impacts over
time using radar, multispectral, and hyperspectral imaging combined with advanced
signal/image processing, pattern recognition, and high performance computing. MSU
has numerous faculty in areas of civil engineering, electrical and computer engineering,
computer science, agriculture and bioengineering, and geosciences with expertise in
these areas.
2) Gas hydrates prevention and management, including biochemical reactions and diffusion
of gas hydrates, gas hydrate stability – Note: Gas hydrates have been cited as a
significant factor in frustrating BP's latest efforts to control the oil well currently losing oil
into the Gulf (for example, see http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-11-oilspill-bp_N.htm and http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592582,00.html ). MSU’s
Swalm School of Chemical Engineering has multiple faculty members with expertise in
gas hydrates. For example, these faculty have experience with storage/transportation of
natural gas in gas hydrates, including the design and construction of the pertinent
equipment. Dr. Rudy Rogers has designed experimental apparatus, that is in place, to
study gas hydrate formation on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor in Mississippi Canyon (about
8 1/2 miles from the blowout well).
3) Hazardous waste remediation. MSU’s Swalm School of Chemical Engineering has faculty
who are certified emergency response responders as well as HASWOPER certified, with
expertise in hazardous waste remediation, as well as faculty with years of experience in
the US Army Corps of Engineers working in the areas of bioremediation. Likewise,
MSU’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering have several faculty with
expertise in Mississippi Gulf Coast beach protection and preservation, with particular
emphasis on establishing beach and emergent vegetation in that environment and a
current project on island preservation with the MS Dept of Marine Resources and
collaborators in the communities and local governments between Biloxi and Pass
Christian. In the past few years, theCollege of Engineering’s Institute for Clean Energy
Technology (ICET) has been collaborating with Kengro (a private company in MS) and
Department of Forest Products Lab of MSU in applying kenaf materials for clean up
organic contaminants, including petroleum products, PCBs and PAHs and inorganic
contaminants such as heavy metals
9 4) Environmental monitoring and sampling for soil, water and air. For example, for water
analysis, ICET’s analytical laboratories are equipped with modern instrumentation
employed for the analysis of brines and freshwater aquifer samples. ICET personnel
have deep expertise in this area and can participate in the analysis of samples, where all
measurements are performed according to U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
methods and existing quality assurance program plans (QAPP’s) will be adopted for any
associated work. ICET has the capability to conduct quick-turn around ground-truth
studies in controlled environment to investigate the impact of oil on selected vegetation
species (such as seagrasses and marsh grasses). The outcome will contribute to
calibration and interpretation of remotely sensed satellite/aerial data.
5) Estimation and prediction of natural gas and oil flow, via expertise in fluid flows,
transport theory, gas-oil-hydrate interactions, watershed modeling, computational fluid
dynamics, advanced scientific visualization, and high performance computing. MSU has
numerous faculty in civil engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering,
aerospace engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and geosciences with
expertise in these areas.
COLLABORATIONS
MSU has extensive collaborations with federal, state, local and private agencies, institutions,
and foundations for research, educational, and service related projects focused on the northern
Gulf of Mexico, including the inter-relationships between gulf waters, coastal land, and the
atmosphere. These long-standing collaborative relationships include but are not limited to the
following: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of
Energy (DOE), Department of the Navy, MS Dept of Marine Resources, Gulf of Mexico Alliance
(GOMA), and National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
MSU is also collaborating with USM and Ole Miss in the efforts to monitor the environmental
impact at the spill site. A significant portion of these collaborations are through Northern Gulf
Institute, a NOAA funded cooperative institute. The Northern Gulf Institute is led by MSU and
also includes the following gulf coast institutions (University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana
State University, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Florida State University). The Northern Gulf Institute
conducts extensive research related to land-ocean-atmosphere interactions, as well as
community outreach related to the northern Gulf of Mexico.
10