The Northern Gulf Institute Renews Agreement with EPA

August 23, 2016

The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI), a NOAA Cooperative Institute led by Mississippi State University (MSU) is extending a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that provides the Gulf of Mexico Region with diverse, science based decisions that protect the ecosystem and build healthy communities. The renewal of the five year MOU follows NOAA's announcement awarding NGI a renewal as the NOAA Cooperative Institute for the Gulf of Mexico Region.


The NGI and U.S. EPA collaboration began in 2013 and covered the coastal area of Tampa Bay, Florida. This latest mutual agreement covers the entire Gulf of Mexico Region. Both entities are working together and with partners to ensure that the numerous across-the-scale connections between social drivers and natural systems are more fully understood in restoration and management activities. Accordingly, the work includes conducting innovative ecological research by sharing resources of information, approaches, models and practical tools. The goal is to increase knowledge about ecosystem dynamics, thresholds and sustainability that in the end provide coastal communities with equitable, efficient and effective solutions that safeguard the natural environment and human well-being.
 
In addition to MSU, The Northern Gulf Institute includes the University of Southern Mississippi, Florida State University, Louisiana State University, Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
 
For more information, about the MSU/NGI U.S. EPA MOU, please contact Steve Ashby, at sashby@GRI.MsState.Edu, or Jim Harvey at Harvey.jim@epa.gov.