2014 Oceans and Human Health GRC/GRS: Anthropogenic Impacts on Coastal Communities and Ecosystems

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

This award will provide partial support for the Fourth Oceans and Human Health (OHH) Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and its associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). The objectives of this Conference and Seminar are to encourage communication and discussion of new ideas and unpublished results at the frontier of OHH, an interdisciplinary field at the interface between ocean research and human health. Scientists and students from academia, government, and industry will be brought together to share recent discoveries and cutting-edge ideas. The theme of the 2014 OHH GRC, "Anthropogenic impacts on coastal communities and ecosystems," will be addressed along two primary tracks that focus on the relationships between human health and the ocean environment: 1) emerging and legacy contaminants, and 2) climate change impacts on oceans and human health. The OHH GRC/GRS consists of two parts. The first part, the GRS, is a two-day meeting that provides a forum specifically for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience to present new data and cutting edge ideas on OHH as well as providing a forum for networking and mentoring. The two-day GRS is followed by the five-day GRC where established and world renowned researchers and scientists present, communicate, and discuss new ideas and unpublished results at the very frontier of Oceans and Human Health. Particular emphasis will be placed on evaluating the inter-relationships between human health and the ocean environment, with presentation tracks focusing on emerging contaminants and on climate change impacts. Intellectual Merit : Building off of three successful prior OHH GRC/GRSs, the proposed 2014 meeting will foster open exchange of cutting edge research, with ample opportunities for building collaborations among top researchers from various disciplines including oceanographers, biologists, epidemiologists, and toxicologists. The conference program has been developed by the conference Chairs with input from committees tasked to address early scientist participation and international participation. Broader Impacts: Assembling world-renowned academic, government, and industrial scientists to share recent national and international discoveries in the field of OHH will lead to new knowledge that can be used by practitioners to minimize negative impacts of human activities on the world's oceans, help maintain ocean resources, and improve human health and well-being through a beneficial interaction with oceans. This meeting is designed to further develop the human resource within this area by encouraging promising students, post-docs, and junior faculty to participate in the preceding GRS and in the following GRC. Researchers and scientists will be engaged with an emphasis on female, minority, junior faculty, postdocs and students through participation at formal sessions, poster presentations and informal interactions.