Laurel Bryant was born in Mount Vernon, Washington, and raised in Seattle.  She attended Shoreline Community College for two years and then graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Political Science and Economics with a concentration in Environmental Sciences.  She came to Washington, DC, in 1989 and worked for the United States House of Representatives Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, the predecessor to the House Natural Resources Committee.

Dr. Crabtree has served as the regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries Service's Southeast Regional Office since January 2003. Previously, Dr. Crabtree was a senior research scientist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Florida Marine Research Institute, and the director of the Commission's Division of Marine Fisheries. He has served these state and federal fishery management agencies for over 15 years, after beginning his career as a self-employed fishing guide in the Florida Keys and Everglades National Park.

"Dr. Sim Aberson is a meteorologist at NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, located at AOML in Miami, FL. His research has focused on observing systems to give Hurricane Specialists at the National Hurricane Center information to improve their hurricane forecasts. He participates in NOAA’s annual Hurricane Field Program and has worked with different observing platforms, especially dropwindsondes, to optimize sampling from Hurricane Hunter Aircraft and the way the data are assimilated into forecast models.

Mary Kicza was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1959.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from California State University and a masters degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.  Mary started her federal career as a coop student working as a civil servant for the Air Force at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California.  She worked at McClellan as an engineer developing software for automated test systems supporting Air Force satellite systems.  In 1982, Mary came to work for NASA where she

Dr. Richard Feely grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Influenced by his love of the outdoors and exposure to Jacques Cousteau, Feely knew he would grow up to be an environmental scientist as early as the eighth grade. He earned his degree from St. Thomas University in his hometown, graduating with a degree in Chemistry in 1969. Feely then earned his master's and Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from Texas A&M University. He has worked for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington, from 1974 until the present.

Dr. Jerome "Nick" Heffter served as a research meteorologist at OAR's Air Resources Lab. He was a pioneer in modeling the dispersion of nuclear radiation and other atmospheric pollutants during the Cold War.  Nick tracked the release of nuclear radiation from Chernobyl in 1986 and reported it to US leaders before Russia informed the world of what is considered the worst nuclear accident in world history.  Currently, Nick is retired from NOAA, but works as a contractor at the Air Resources Lab.

Scope and Content Note

Mary Glackin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1954.  She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1982 with a degree in computer science and coursework in meteorology.  Mary started her career with General Electric before coming to the National Weather Service in 1997, where she worked for twenty years, working her way from Computer Specialist to Meteorologist to Program Manager for the Advanced Weather Forecast Information System.

David Vallee is the Hydrologist-in-Charge of the National Weather Service’s Northeast River Forecast Center. The center provides detailed water resource and life-saving flood forecasting services to National Weather Service Forecast Offices and the hundreds of federal, state and local water resource entities throughout the Northeast and New York. David has worked for the National Weather Service for 30 years, serving in a variety of positions including Senior Service Hydrologist at the Taunton Weather Forecast Office from 1993-2000 and as Science and Operations Officer from 2001-2006.

Dr. Russell Schnell, a distinguished scientist and expert in atmospheric science, has made significant contributions to the field of climate research and environmental monitoring. Born and raised in Castor, Alberta, he has a rich ancestral heritage traced back to Norka. Dr. Schnell earned first-class honors degrees in Biology from the University of Alberta and Chemistry from Memorial University in Newfoundland. Seeking further specialization, he obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Wyoming.

Mr. Robert Hansen was born in on Earth Day, April 22, 1949, in Bayshore, New York.  He was the first in his family to attend college, and earned his Bachelor’s and then a Master's Degree in Geography from the University at Albany.  Mr. Hansen came to work for NOAA as a cartographer in Aeronautical Charting.  He then worked as a technical information specialist for the National Ocean Service, chief of the NOAA Map Library, constituent affairs specialist, NOAA Historian, and retired as the national outreach coordinator for Education.