Christopher M. Reddy
Encyclopedia
Christopher M. Reddy is a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(Woods Hole, Massachusetts
) in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry and the Director of the Institution’s Coastal Ocean Institute. He studies oil spill
s, other forms of marine pollution
, and biofuel
s. He has a BS in chemistry from Rhode Island College
(1992) and a PhD in chemical oceanography
from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island
(1997). After finishing his BS, Reddy worked as an environmental chemist before attending graduate school.
Reddy has travelled around the world for his research, which included collecting samples with the research submarine DSV Alvin
. He has held visiting and adjunct professorships at Boston University
, the University of California at San Diego, and California Institute of Technology
.
s that have occurred during the past fifteen years, including the North Cape
(Rhode Island
; 1996), Bouchard 120 (Buzzards Bay
; 2003), Cosco Busan
(San Francisco; 2007), and theHebei Spirit (South Korea
; 2007).
He has also directed the most recent efforts to study the long term impacts of oil spills in salt marsh
es from the Florida and Bouchard 65 that occurred in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts in 1969 and 1974, respectively. These studies have shown that the last remnants of spill fuel continue to have deleterious impacts on crab
s, mussel
s, and marsh grasses today.
Reddy also studies natural oil spills that occur off the coast of Santa Barbara
.
and the United States House of Representatives
.
articles or editorials on science-based issues in, for example, the San Francisco Chronicle
, The Boston Globe
, and Science magazine. He teaches a course and workshops for science graduate and postdoctoral students on communicating science to nonscientist audiences.
, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
(Kavli Fellow), and the American Chemical Society
.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
(Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands...
) in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry and the Director of the Institution’s Coastal Ocean Institute. He studies oil spill
Oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
s, other forms of marine pollution
Marine pollution
Marine pollution occurs when harmful, or potentially harmful effects, can result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive organisms. Most sources of marine pollution are land based...
, and biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
s. He has a BS in chemistry from Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College is a nationally ranked, coeducational, state-supported comprehensive college founded in 1854, located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA...
(1992) and a PhD in chemical oceanography
Chemical oceanography
Chemical oceanography is the study of ocean chemistry: the behavior of the chemical elements within the Earth's oceans. The ocean is unique in that it contains - in greater or lesser quantities - nearly every element in the periodic table....
from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
(1997). After finishing his BS, Reddy worked as an environmental chemist before attending graduate school.
Reddy has travelled around the world for his research, which included collecting samples with the research submarine DSV Alvin
DSV Alvin
Alvin is a manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group in the same factory used to manufacture breakfast cereal-producing...
. He has held visiting and adjunct professorships at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, the University of California at San Diego, and California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
.
Research
Reddy has been an active researcher of oil spillOil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
s that have occurred during the past fifteen years, including the North Cape
North Cape oil spill
The North Cape Oil Spill occurred on January 19, 1996 when the tank barge North Cape and the tug Scandia grounded on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island after the tug caught fire in its engine room during a winter storm. An estimated 828,000 gallons of home heating oil was spilled...
(Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
; 1996), Bouchard 120 (Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay along the southern edge of Massachusetts in the United States. The name may also refer to:*Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, a village in Bourne, Massachusetts*Buzzards Bay , the name of the horse that won the 2005 Santa Anita Derby...
; 2003), Cosco Busan
Cosco Busan
MSC Venezia, formerly MV COSCO Busan, is a container ship made infamous by its 7 November 2007 collision with the protective fender of the Delta Tower of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge in heavy fog. The 08:30:00 UTC-8 collision sliced open two fuel tanks and led to the environmentally...
(San Francisco; 2007), and theHebei Spirit (South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
; 2007).
He has also directed the most recent efforts to study the long term impacts of oil spills in salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es from the Florida and Bouchard 65 that occurred in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts in 1969 and 1974, respectively. These studies have shown that the last remnants of spill fuel continue to have deleterious impacts on crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
s, mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s, and marsh grasses today.
Reddy also studies natural oil spills that occur off the coast of Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
.
Professional activities
He is an associate editor for Environmental Forensics and has provided expert testimonies on oil spills for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
and the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.
Outreach
In 2006, Reddy was awarded an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship, which teaches scientists to communicate environmental science to the lay public, media, and policymakers. He presents scientific talks to lay audiences throughout the country and has published more than 20 op-edOp-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
articles or editorials on science-based issues in, for example, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, and Science magazine. He teaches a course and workshops for science graduate and postdoctoral students on communicating science to nonscientist audiences.
Honors
Reddy has received many professional accolades, including ones from the Office of Naval ResearchOffice of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(Kavli Fellow), and the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
.
Select oil spill related publications (peer reviewed)
- Reddy, C.M. and J.G. Quinn. (2001) The North Cape oil spill - The fate of hydrocarbons in Point Judith Pond and Rhode Island coastal waters. Marine Env. Res. 52, 445-461.
- Reddy, C.M., Eglinton, T.I., Hounshell, A., White, H.K., Xu, L., Gaines, R.B., and Frysinger, G.S. (2002) The West Falmouth oil spill after thirty years: The persistence of petroleum hydrocarbons in marsh sediments. Env. Sci. and Technol. 36, 4754-4760.
- Slater, G.F., White, H.K., Eglinton, T.I, and Reddy C.M. (2005) Determination of microbial carbon sources in petroleum contaminated sediments using molecular 14C analysis. Env. Sci. and Technol. 39, 2552-2558.
- Peacock, E.E., Nelson, R.K., Solow, A.R., Warren, J.D., Baker. J.L., and Reddy. C.M. (2005). The West Falmouth oil spill: 100 kg of oil persists in marsh sediments. Env. Forensics 6:273-281.
- White, H.K, Xu, L., Lima, A.L.C., Eglinton, T.I., and Reddy, C.M. (2005) Abundance, composition, and vertical transport of PAHs in marsh sediments. Env. Sci. and Technol. 39, 8273-8280.
- Peacock, E.E., Hampson, G.R., Nelson, R.K., Xu, L., Frysinger, G.S., Gaines, R.B., Farrington, J.W., Tripp, B.W., and Reddy, C.M. (2007) The 1974 spill of the Bouchard 65 oil barge: Petroleum hydrocarbons persist in Winsor Cove salt marsh sediments. Marine Pollution Bulletin 54, 214-225.
- Culbertson, J.B., Valiela, I., Peacock, E.E., Reddy, C.M., Carter, A., and VanderKruik, R. (2007) Long-term biological effects of petroleum: Response of fiddler crabs to oil in salt marsh sediments. Marine Pollution Bulletin 54, 955-962
- Plata, D.L., Sharpless, C.M., and Reddy, C.M. (2008) Photochemical degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil films. Env. Sci. and Technol. 42, 2432-2438.
- Culbertson, J.B., Valiela, I., Olsen, Y., and Reddy, C.M. (2008) Effect of field exposure to 38-year old residual petroleum hydrocarbons on growth, condition index, and filtration rate of the ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa. Environmental Pollution 154, 312-319
- Culbertson, J.B., Valiela, I., Pickard, M., Reddy, Peacock. E.E., Reddy, C.M. (2008). Response of salt marsh grass to residual petroleum spilled 38 years ago in Wild Harbor, MA. Journal of Applied Ecology 45, 1284–1292
- Wardlaw, G., Arey, J.S., Reddy, C.M., Nelson, R.K., Ventura, G.T., Valentine, D.L. (2008) Disentangling oil weathering at a marine seep using GC×GC: Broad metabolic specificity accompanies subsurface petroleum biodegradation. Env. Sci. and Technol 42, 7166-7173.
- Farwell, C., Reddy, C.M., Peacock, E.E., Nelson, R.K., Washburn, L., Valentine, D.L. (2009) Weathering and the fallout plume of heavy oil from strong petroleum seeps near Coal Oil Point, CA. Env. Sci. and Technol. 43, 3542–3548.