The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was awarded the Gulf Star Partnership Award at the recent Gulf of Mexico Conference, highlighting the impacts GRP has made through its work building partnerships and engaging networks across the region. The conference, hosted by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, brought together over 1,000 coastal scientists and stakeholders in state and federal government, academia, non-profit, and private sectors to discuss current Gulf research and opportunities for further collaboration.  

The Gulf Star Partnership Award was given in recognition of GRP’s support for innovative programming, including a youth ambassador program led by a partnership between the Gulf of Mexico Alliance and the Gulf Reach Institute. The youth ambassador program aims to establish a diverse, informed, and connected Gulf Youth Network trained in various aspects of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem’s environmental and societal challenges. Additionally, the program will provide resources to implement 40 youth-centric, community-based environmental projects in communities across the Gulf region.

Most rewarding for GRP staff attending the conference was witnessing the reach of the GRP’s fellowship network. Many of its current and former fellows from two fellowship programs, the Science Policy Fellowship and Early-Career Research Fellowship, actively participated in the conference. Fifty-three current and former fellows were listed in abstracts presented at the conference, while 41 fellows participated in oral presentations and poster sessions. The GRP has hosted nine cohorts of Science Policy Fellows so far, with some of its earlier cohorts now serving as mentors for the program.

Jessica Henkel, a 2015 Science Policy Fellow, noted that while collaborating on a project across organizations working in the Gulf, the team discovered that everyone on the call had been a Science Policy Fellow or Early-Career Research Fellow with GRP, exemplifying the reach and capacity building potential of GRP’s fellowship programs.

In addition to the turn-out of fellows, staff from several GRP boards presented their work during the conference:

• Harry Escobar from Gulf Futures presented on the GRP’s program, Design Studios: Interdisciplinary Education, the Future of the Workforce, and Community Partnerships in the Gulf.

• Timothy Filbert from the Board on Gulf Education and Engagement led a panel of Gulf Scholar Program directors in conversation on Preparing Gulf Region Change Agents Through Undergrad Education.

• Maeesha Saeed from the Board on Gulf Education and Engagement and Jessica Henkel, a former Science Policy Fellow, presented on Empowering Tomorrow's Problem Solvers - The Gulf Research Program's Science Policy Fellowship Experience.

• Rob Gasior from the Gulf Health and Resilience Board and Jenn Summers from the Gulf Environmental Protection and Stewardship Board presented on Extreme Heat: Working Together to Equitably Plan for and Adapt to Heat and Related Health Impacts.

• Jenn Summers also presented in two additional sessions, Synthesis Efforts in the Gulf of Mexico and An Overview of the Current Challenges and Opportunities Posed by Legacy Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

On the Monday before the conference, GRP led a workshop on Art-Science Collaboration, organized in conjunction with Cultural Programs of the National Academies of Sciences. This half-day workshop featured a video provocation by artist Mel Chin, which prompted attendees to consider questions such as what role art-science collaborations could play in social and ecological innovation, in what ways art is able to engage broader audiences about complex issues, and what challenges to the Gulf region should this group address. These questions were accompanied by Chin discussing his past work collaborating with scientists on a variety of projects.

Following the provocation, attendees participated in a panel on engaging Gulf communities through art and science collaborations, a musical art intervention performed by Fred Johnson which synthesized key talking points from the workshop discussions, and a panel on storytelling and community. GRP also provided a visual notetaker for the workshop and the duration of the conference, highlighting how art and science might integrate to capture and convey complex ideas.