Zachary Magdol joins OR&R as a Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) Research Fellow. Zach just graduated from the University of New Hamphire (UNH) with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering - Municipal Processes, and will begin the Master's Program in the Fall. Zach is one of four students working through CRRC Fellowships. One of his primary jobs will be to assist Doug Helton on the pollution threats from abandoned vessels, with a focus on the Puget Sound and Washington State waters. The main goal of this project is to survey, accurately locate, and prioritize the risk associated with abandoned vessels in US waters. He will revise the current database making it more accessible and usable for response decision-making. Last summer he worked with the UNH Marine Debris Research Group with a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program concentrating on compiling existing data and collecting new data. With the aid of his mentor, Dr. Jenna Jambeck, he developed a method to concisely express five years of marine debris collection data. Zach is interested in the sources and transport of marine debris and other pollution sources. Zach was part of the award-winning UNH team won first place in their task at the 2008 Environmental Design Contest held April 6-9, 2008, at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M. Welcome Zach! For more information on Zach and the other students working with ORR and CRRC, check out:www.crrc.unh.edu/students. For more information, contact Amy.Merten@noaa.gov