WEBINAR – ExxonMobil Oil Spill Response Knowledge Transfer, “Oil Chemistry and Fates of Oil in the Sea”, Webinar 20, 5th September 2023

ExxonMobil Oil Spill Response Knowledge Transfer Webinar 20 EM OSR Knowledge Transfer Webinars will host an Oil in the Sea IV series through the months of June – December, 2023. A sixteen-member committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released Oil in the Sea IV: Inputs, Fates, and Effects in September 2022. This report, the fourth in a series, documents the current state-of-knowledge on inputs, fates and effects of oil in the sea, reflecting almost 20 additional years of research, including long-term effects from spills such as the Exxon Valdez and a decade-long boom in oil spill science research following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The report identifies research gaps and provides specific recommendations aimed at preventing future accidental spills and ensuring oil spill responders are equipped with the best response tools and information to limit oil’s impact on the marine environment.

Guest speaker: Dr. John Farrington, Dr Scott Socolofsky, and Dr. Berrin Tansel

Topic of Webinar 20 (September 5, 2023): “Oil Chemistry and Fates of Oil in the Sea”

John Farrington is Dean emeritus at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) with expertise in marine chemistry and geochemistry. He held successive positions in the chemistry department for 17 years and simultaneously served for six years as director of the WHOI Coastal Research Center. His research interests include: marine organic geochemistry, biogeochemistry of organic chemicals of environmental concern, and the interaction between science and policy. He has served on committees and panels for international, national, and local organizations. Dr. Farrington is currently serving as a member of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Research Board.

Scott Socolofsky is a Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University. His research is in the broad area of Environmental Fluid Mechanics, with emphasis on laboratory experiments and data analysis to elucidate mixing mechanisms by turbulence and coherent structures. Dr. Socolofsky’s expertise includes oil spill modeling, marine natural seeps, and physical/chemical characteristics of oil. He received his PhD and MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his BS in Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering from University of Colorado Boulder.

Berrin Tansel is a Professor of Environmental Engineering and Undergraduate Program Director for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University. She has conducted extensive research on oil-water emulsions and remediation of contaminated media (water, sediments, and soil). Her research interests include land-based inputs of oils, weathering of crude and refined oils, formation and treatability of oil-water emulsions, partitioning and persistence of oil based fractions in different phases (slick, emulsion, dispersed, sediment and tar) and their mobility. Dr. Tansel is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. She received her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a Minor in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979 and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey in 1978.

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://exxonmobil.zoom.us/j/99134219043

The ExxonMobil Oil Spill Response Knowledge Transfer Webinar series is a monthly webinar to allow highly experienced OSR experts to share their knowledge to attendees. The webinar series will provide a platform to communicate, transfer, and preserve OSR knowledge, and to share insights and perspectives from industry, academia, oil spill responders, and other oil spill response experts.

Please note that the webinar series are recorded, and the previous recordings are posted at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5-xnKVew34ZbOGOB_EC7JXSlscXEC7BV.

The webinar series started in August 2021 and continued every first Tuesday of the following months. We intend to continue the webinars indefinitely depending on response and our ability to schedule appropriate speakers. To receive the link and other joining info, please send an email to Lin Zhao at: [email protected]. Note that there is still room for more participants so feel free to forward this invite to others but ask that potential attendees RSVP Lin Zhao to get on the distribution list.