NJIT Professor Michel Boufadel, is a co-author of a new expert report on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Mississippi Canyon-252 oil spill on ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico.

Entitled "An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico," the report, published by the National Academy of Sciences, makes the case for how and why a more resilient Gulf of Mexico ecosystem needs to be developed. Recommendations include a plea to build an infrastructure to organize and integrate data. The National Research Council prepared the report based on the committee's report. Download the report free at http://www. nap. edu . For more information, contact the Ocean Studies Board at (202) 334-2714 or visit http://dels. nas. edu/ osb .

Boufadel is an expert in the field of oil spill research, especially the Deepwater Horizon blow-out. He was formerly a professor at Temple University, chairing its department of civil and environmental engineering plus directing the Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection.

A Professional Engineer and Professional Hydrologist (accredited by the American Institute of Hydrology), Boufadel is also a familiar face at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where he currently serves on the EPA Science Advisory Board for natural gas extraction from shale formations.

Boufadel's projects include floodplain delineation for Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and checking contamination in urban streams. He was involved in the response to the DWH blowout and has received funding from the Unified Command to evaluate oil biodegradation in the Gulf of Mexico beaches following the blowout. The findings of that project can be found in the Report of the Operation Science Advisory Team, which he co-authored. He was the report's only academic.

Boufadel has more than 80 refereed articles in publications such as Nature, Geosciences, Environmental Science and Technology, and the Marine Pollution Bulletin. He also has more than 30 publications in oil spill conference proceedings including the International Oil Spill Conference and the Arctic and Marine Oil Spill Conference.

The National Academies appointed this expert committee to address this specific task requested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Members volunteered their time for this activity. The report was peer-reviewed and the final product signed off by both the committee members and the National Academies.

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NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls approximately 10,000 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2012 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Division of Continuing Professional Education.