Harvard dean Murray appointed Deepwater Horizon commission

President Obama announces the remaining members of the seven-person investigating commission.

Cherry A. Murray

Cherry A. Murray | Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Labs

President Barack Obama, J.D. '91, has announced his intention to appoint physicist Cherry A. Murray, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, to the seven-member National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

The text of the White House news release is here.

Background on Murray from Harvard Magazine appears here; her SEAS biography and research profile are here.

The commission is co-chaired by a pair of Harvard Law School alumni: former Florida governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, LL.B. '62, and William K. Reilly, J.D. '65, who was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush; in that capacity, Reilly oversaw the federal response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989.

 

 

Related topics

You might also like

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

After a final round of layoffs, University leaders say 165 staff jobs were eliminated across the division.

The award-winning international journalist has served as interim curator since 2025.

Most popular

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

FAS leaders say restructuring will be complete by mid-October.

Explore More From Current Issue

Smiling woman stands beside a large skull in a display cabinet.

From competing in youth gymnastics to studying tetrapods, the Harvard curator has always chased her curiosity.

A glowing bulb shape surrounded by colorful, swirling energy lines against a blue background.

Harvard researchers achieve medical breakthroughs in cancer therapy and infection control.

Caricature of a young man in front of red doors, wearing a green striped sweater.

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.