Nancy Rabalais
Nancy N. Rabalais is an American marine ecologist. She researches dead zones in the marine environment and is an expert in eutrophication and nutrient pollution.
Rabalais earned her B.S. in 1972 and her M.S. in 1975 from Texas A&M University–Kingsville. She earned her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983.
Since 1985, Rabalais has studied the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone off the coast of Louisiana, the largest hypoxic zone in the United States. She joined the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and, with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), identified a substantial hypoxic zone that had been affecting shrimpers.[1]
Rabalais has testified to Congress on the problem of nutrient pollution from agricultural and storm water runoff.
She referred to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill as an "oilmageddon".[2]
She is the executive director of LUMCON, where she is also a professor. She leads annual research surveys to determine the size of the dead zone. She is also director of the Coastal Waters Consortium. She has chaired the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council.[3]
Rabalais was the recipient of a Heinz Award in 2011[4] and MacArthur Fellowship in 2012.[5]
Rabalais has been published in the journals Biogeosciences, BioScience, Nature, and Science. She authored the 2011 book Coastal Hypoxia: Consequences for Living Resources and Ecosystems with Robert Eugene Turner.
References
- ↑ Nuwer, Rachel (October 15, 2012). "Q and A: Tracking a Worrisome Dead Zone". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Dr. Nancy Rabalais: Troubled Waters in the Gulf of Mexico". Smithsonian Ocean Portal. March 29, 2011.
- ↑ Seideman, Yael Calhoun, series editor ; foreword by David (2005). Water Pollution. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4381-0232-0.
- ↑ "Gulf champion Nancy Rabalais gets her due: An editorial". The Times-Picayune. September 19, 2011.
- ↑ Schleifstein, Mark (October 5, 2012). "Louisiana "dead zone" scientist wins $500,000 MacArthur "Genius Grant"". The Times-Picayune.