About the series
John McLachlan, an environmental scientist at Tulane and Xavier universities in New Orleans, experienced the devastation of Katrina first-hand. While he was able to safely leave the city during the storm, his laboratory facilities stayed. For weeks after his research team returned, McLachlan's apartment served as their center of operations.
On April 5, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host McLachlan, who will share how he and his colleagues literally picked up the pieces of his demolished laboratory, and the tremendous, multidisciplinary collaborations that have since emerged among researchers across the country who have been studying Katrina's devastation, society's response, and the ongoing recovery.
McLachlan will highlight the Katrina Environmental Research and Restoration Network (KERRN), of which he is the principle investigator. Funded by NSF, KERRN is a coalition of nearly 80 experts in science, engineering, humanities and other fields who cross wide disciplinary obstacles to gain new insights from the hurricane and apply lessons learned to future disasters. Members draw perspectives from fields ranging from ecosystem science, cancer epidemiology and civil engineering to nursing, economics and urban studies.
McLachlan will be joined by Doug Meffert, also of Tulane. Meffert is the chair of the Committee on Sustainability for Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring Back New Orleans Task Force.
RSVP is required. Media should contact Josh Chamot, media officer for engineering, at (703) 802-2208 or jchamot@nsf.gov.
