Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia chapter of the Roosevelt Institute will host a group of students, professors and policymakers at its sixth annual conference on April 8-9 at the Zell Miller Learning Center on campus. Participants will address policy responses to human-made environmental disasters at the conference entitled, “After the Spill: A Dialogue Between Students and Policymakers.”
Using the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion as the focal point for discussion, experts and students will present side-by-side on key policy issues within environmental disaster science, emergency relief strategy and claims resolution process, with an emphasis on local government.
The conference stems from efforts by Roosevelt@UGA members to investigate policy responses to incidents such as the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf region. The yearlong research initiative included a trip to the Gulf Coast to meet with stakeholders highly involved during the cleanup efforts and subsequent claims process. During the trip, the group recorded their efforts in a blog (http://ugaspil.blogspot.com/) and will reveal the findings of their research at the conference. Discussion from the conference will culminate in a journal presenting expert reflections on the Deepwater Horizon disaster, student research and conclusions from conference deliberations.
Guests include Samantha Joye, professor of marine sciences, UGA; Billy Nungesser, parish president, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana; Terry Hazen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Will Duncan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Joe Montoya, professor of biology, Georgia Institute of Technology; and Rusty Gaude, Sea Grant Consortium.
The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is the nation’s first student-run public policy think-tank. The network serves not only to give students a voice in the public policy process, but also to train students in non-partisan civic engagement, policy analysis and leadership. Roosevelt@UGA, sponsored by the university’s Honors Program, was founded in 2005.
For more information about the conference, see www.RooseveltCampusNetwork.org/Spill.
