A panel of seven experts all who work in fields related to our Louisiana coast were on campus this week to answer student questions about the various challenges in reclaiming lost land and preventing future land loss in the marshes and bayous south of New Orleans.  Vic Landry '86 and Tracy Falk, both operations managers for the Corps of Engineers who manage various shipping channels in our state; Travis Lux, a WWNO Coastal Desk reporter; Dr. Ioannis Georgio, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at UNO; Troy Sehlinger '08, a marine biologist for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries; Dr. John Lopez, Director of Coast and Community Programs for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation; and Paul Algu '07, an environmental scientist with RTP Environmental Associates, fielded questions from the World Geography Honors/English I Honors eighth grade students who have been studying coastal land loss since they read Mike Tidwell's Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast as their summer reading. This expert panel extends the research the students are completing in evaluating the various strategies already in existence to reclaim lost land and reduce future land loss. Students will present their findings to a faculty panel and compile a "works consulted." The culminating experience for this extensive project, which included a visit to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) in Cocodrie earlier this semester for a first-hand witness of our fragile coast, will be a trip to Baton Rouge to the Louisiana Center for River Studies and the Louisiana Science and Arts Museum. 

Brother Martin continues to strive to provide interdisciplinary connections, field experiences, and rigorous research for our students, and the Social Studies and English Departments are proud to sponsor this endeavor.