Murray to Serve on Oil Spill Investigative Panel

Former APS president Cherry Murray was recently chosen to serve on the presidentially appointed National Commission tasked with preventing a major oil spill from happening again. The panel will investigate the events leading up to the BP spill and make safety and environmental protection recommendations.

Murray, who served as president of APS in 2009, is the dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Other members of the panel include Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Terry Garcia, executive vice president for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society; and Frances Ulmer, chancellor of the University of Alaska, Anchorage. The commission is chaired by Bob Graham, former Florida senator; and William Reilly, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.