News

Sempier to coordinate Coastal Storms Program outreach in Gulf

By: Melissa Schneider / Published: Jun 20, 2008

Tracie Sempier has joined the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium as the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Storms  outreach coordinator with duties that include developing, implementing and evaluating a Coastal Storms Outreach Program over a three-year period inAlabama, Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana.

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Storms Program is funded through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sempier holds a bachelor’s degree in marine science and biology from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree in science and mathematics education from Oregon State University in Corvallis. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at Mississippi StateUniversity, where she was a graduate research assistant for the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence: Central Gulf of Mexico program.

Her experience also includes being an intern at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and teaching marine science at the Jekyll Island Environmental Education Center inGeorgia and at the Catalina Island Marine Institute in California. She also has taught high school biology, chemistry, physics, marine science and middle school integrated science inOregon and Mississippi.

“Tracie was hired after a nationally advertised search,” said MASGC Director LaDon Swann. “She brings a very useful set of skills with her that will enable her to provide a meaningful extension, outreach and education programs to coastal constituents in Alabama, Mississippiand Louisiana.”

Sempier will develop a Web site that will serve as a clearinghouse of coastal storms information, print materials and tools. She also will produce a Coastal Storms Resource Directory that will include an inventory of land-use models, risk and vulnerability tools, storm-related workshops, funding opportunities and partners.

“I am excited about my new position as the Coastal Storms outreach coordinator and see my research, interest and experience in education and outreach as complementing my Sea Grant position,” said Sempier.

She works out of the Sea Grant administrative office at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab.

She lives in Ocean Springs with her husband, Steve, and daughter, Savannah.

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