WHO: Kate Moran, senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology; Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry, who oversaw the government’s initial response to the spill; Dennis Nixon and David Smith, associate deans of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography; Malcolm Spaulding, URI professor of ocean engineering; Chris Reddy, director of the Coastal Ocean Institute at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; and Peter Cornillon, URI professor of oceanography.

WHAT: The speakers will participate in a panel discussion examining how and why the spill occurred and its resulting legal implications; the movement of the spill around the Gulf; how scientists determined the amount of oil that spilled; the clean-up operation and the government’s response; research in the Gulf while the spill was continuing; and the biological impact of the oil and the dispersants used.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 29 at 6 p.m.

WHERE: Corless Auditorium in the Watkins Building, 215 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, on the URI Narragansett Bay campus.

CONTACT: For information about covering this event, contact Todd McLeish in the URI Department of Communications and Marketing at 401-874-7892 or tmcleish@uri.edu.