Tracy Collier, Ph.D., is the science director for the Puget Sound Partnership and a visiting scientist at the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma. He also serves as the Science Advisor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Oceans and Human Health Program. There, he provides science direction in the areas of chemical contaminants, pathogens, and algal toxins, and their effects on human and ecosystem health. Until 2010, he was an environmental toxicologist at the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Dr. Collier received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1988.

Jonathan Garber, Ph.D., is the acting associate director for ecology in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NHEERL is the EPA's focal point for scientific research on the effects of contaminants and environmental stressors on human health and ecosystem integrity. Its research mission helps the EPA to identify and understand the processes that affect our health and environment, and assists the EPA to evaluate the risks that pollution poses to humans and ecosystems.

William Gerwick, Ph.D., is a professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. His research focuses on exploring the unique natural products of marine algae and cyanobacteria for useful biomedical properties in the areas of cancer, inflammation, neurochemical pathways, and infectious disease, including tropical diseases such as malaria and leishmaniasis. Previously, he was the deputy director of the Marine Freshwater Biomedical Center at Oregon State University. Dr. Gerwick received a Ph.D. in oceanography in 1981 from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.P.H., is an American public health physician, trained as a pediatrician and epidemiologist. Now dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health, she is perhaps best known for her role in helping craft the Food Protection Act passed by Congress in 1996, the first national environmental law to explicitly require measures to protect children from pesticides. In 1993, Dr. Goldman was appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as assistant administrator for toxic substances at the EPA, becoming the first physician to serve in this capacity. During her 5 years at the EPA, from 1993 to 1998, she promoted pesticide legislation reform, assessment of industrial-chemical hazards, and children's health issues. Dr. Goldman is a graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Holly Greening, M.S., serves as executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP). She is responsible for maintaining the strong public and private partnerships forged through TBEP for the continuation of the bay's science-based restoration and recovery strategies. She served on the Governing Board of the Estuarine Research Federation, the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board, and three National Research Council Committees on coastal issues. She is currently serving on the Florida Oceans and Coasts Council and as associate editor for the journal Estuaries and Coasts. Ms. Greening has an M.S. in marine ecology from Florida State University.

Cynthia Jones, Ph.D., is the A.D. and Annye L. Morgan professor of sciences, professor of ocean, earth, and atmospheric sciences, an eminent scholar, and the director of the Center for Quantitative Fisheries Ecology at Old Dominion University. She studies marine fisheries and the quantitative ecology of fish. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been recognized numerous times for faculty excellence. Dr. Jones received a Ph.D. in oceanography in 1984 from the University of Rhode Island.

Edward Laws, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Louisiana State University School of the Coast and Environment. He also serves as the director of the Pacific Research Center for Marine Biomedicine, a Center for Oceans and Human Health supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Previously, he taught in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii for 30 years. He has published more than 140 papers in scholarly journals and is the author of a textbook on aquatic pollution that has been translated into numerous languages. Dr. Laws received his Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University in 1972.

Jay Lemery, M.D., is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado. He has an academic expertise in the field of wilderness and environmental medicine and was the director of Cornell Wilderness & Environmental Medicine from 2005–2012. He holds an appointment at the Harvard School of Public Health at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights and serves a contributing editor for its journal Health and Human Rights. He is a consultant for the Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and became president of the Wilderness Medical Society in the summer of 2012. Dr. Lemery received his M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School.

Frank Loy, LL.B., has served in the Department of State in four administrations. His portfolio included developing U.S. international policy and conducting negotiations in the fields of the environment and climate change, human rights, the promotion of democracy, refugees and humanitarian affairs, and counter-narcotics. In 2011 President Obama named him the U.S. Alternate Representative to the U.N. General Assembly. At present he serves on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations. In the field of the environment these include Resources for the Future (former chair), Environmental Defense Fund (former chair), The Nature Conservancy, C2ES, and ecoAmerica (chair). He also chairs the boards of Population Services International and the Arthur Burns Fellowship Program and serves on the boards of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and The Washington Ballet.

Kevan Main, Ph.D., is the manager for the Marine and Freshwater Aquaculture Research Program at Mote Marine Laboratory. She directs the operations at Mote's 200-acre field station, Mote Aquaculture Park, in eastern Sarasota County. In September 2012, she became president of the World Aquaculture Society. Her research interests are in developing sustainable aquaculture methods to produce marine fish, sturgeon, shrimp, abalone, and corals. She has more than 20 years of experience in the aquaculture of tropical and subtropical fish and invertebrates from around the world, and has published 7 books and authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Main received her Ph.D. from Florida State University.

Linda McCauley, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, FAAOHN, is dean and professor at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and professor in the Department of Environmental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health. She is a nationally recognized leader in nursing education and in research on environmental exposures and health hazards among vulnerable populations, including workers and young children. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Occupational Health Nurses and the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. McCauley received her master's degree in nursing from Emory University and her Ph.D. in environmental health from the University of Cincinnati.

Steven Murawski, Ph.D., is a professor and the Downtown Progress - Peter R. Betzer Endowed Chair of Biological Oceanography at the University of South Florida. He is a fisheries biologist and marine ecologist involved in understanding the impacts of human activities on the sustainability of ocean ecosystems. He has developed approaches for understanding the impacts of fishing on marine fish complexes exploited in mixed-species aggregations. He is also a U.S. delegate and currently a vice-president of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, a 20-nation organization dedicated to increasing understanding of ocean ecosystems. Dr. Murawski received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1984.

Lydia Olander, Ph.D., is the director of the Ecosystem Services Program at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. She is currently developing the Nicholas Institute and Duke University's expanding initiative on ecosystem services. She is coordinating Duke's Ecosystem Services Working Group, the development of a National Ecosystem Services Partnership, and the Institute's programs on greenhouse gas offsets. She directs the Technical Working Group on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and, when time permits, works on the burgeoning multinational effort on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation. Dr. Olander received a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry from Stanford University in 2002 and a master's in forest science from Yale University in 1995.

Denise Reed, Ph.D., is the interim director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New Orleans. Her research focuses on various aspects of sediment dynamics in coastal wetlands, with emphasis on sediment mobilization and marsh hydrology, both natural and altered, as factors controlling sediment deposition. She has participated in numerous research projects concerning marsh and estuarine sediment dynamics on the Gulf and Pacific coasts of the United States as well as in Europe and South America. Dr. Reed received a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Cambridge, England.

Paul Sandifer, Ph.D., is the chief science advisor for NOAA's National Ocean Service. He is currently leading a NOAA-wide effort in ecological forecasting, development of a NOAA “Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science, Observation, Monitoring and Technology Program” under the RESTORE Act of 2012, a NOAA health strategy, and establishment of a science career track for NOAA employees, among other duties. His research interests include ocean policy, coastal ecosystem science, and aquaculture, and he is recognized as one of the architects of the “metadiscipline” of oceans and human health. He is currently co-chair of the interagency Task Force on Integrating Science and Technology for Sustainability. Prior to coming to NOAA, Dr. Sandifer had a distinguished 31-year career with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, including service as agency director. He is a member of graduate faculties at the College of Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina and has an extensive publication record.

Barton Seaver is a chef and National Geographic Fellow who has dedicated his career to restoring the relationship we have with our ocean. It is his belief that the choices we are making for dinner are directly impacting the ocean and its fragile ecosystems. He was Esquire magazine's 2009 “Chef of the Year” and was honored as a “StarChefs.com Community Innovator,” as voted by more than 1,000 chefs and culinary leaders worldwide. In his first book, For Cod and Country, he introduces an entirely new kind of casual cooking featuring seafood that has not been overfished or harvested using destructive methods.

John D. Spengler, Ph.D., is the Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard University's School of Public Health. He is the director of the Sustainability and Environmental Management Program for Harvard Extension School and the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard School of Public Health. He has conducted research in the areas of personal monitoring, air pollution health effects, aerosol characterization, and indoor air. More recently, Dr. Spengler has been involved in research that includes the integration of knowledge about indoor and outdoor air pollution as well as other risk factors into the design of housing, buildings, and communities. He received a B.S. in physics from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in environmental health sciences from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the State University of New York–Albany.

Ione Taylor, Ph.D., serves as associate director for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health Mission Area with oversight for energy and mineral resource programs, toxics hydrology, and contaminants biology programs. She began her career working for the New Mexico Bureau of Mines on mineralization in volcanic systems and spent 15 years as a petroleum industry geologist in domestic and international hydrocarbon exploration, research and development, and senior leadership roles. She joined the USGS in 1999 as Science Center Director, Eastern Energy Resources, and she has served as Deputy Regional Director and Regional Chief Scientist for Eastern Region, and Chief Scientist for Geography. Dr. Taylor holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, an Executive Certificate from MIT, and Senior Executive Service certification from the Department of the Interior.

G. David Tilman, Ph.D., is one of the world's leading ecologists, blending theoretical and experimental work seamlessly. His classic research created the benchmark model for determining how different organisms within an ecosystem compete for resources. His field experiments and theoretical insights have helped to alert scientists to the fact that the reduction in the number of plant and animal species on the planet has a profound effect on the way Earth's ecosystems function. For the past decade, much of his work has focused on the environmental impacts of global agriculture and how global food demand could be met in more sustainable ways. Dr. Tilman is the Regent's Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, as well as an instructor in conservation biology; ecology, evolution, and behavior; and microbial ecology. He is director of the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve Long-term Ecological Research Station. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1976.