Expertise

Research Professor of Oceanography at Sea Education Association

Dr. Kara Lavender Law is Research Professor of Oceanography at Sea Education Association (SEA; Woods Hole, MA), studying the sources, distribution, transformation and fate of plastic debris in the ocean. Trained as a physical oceanographer, her research interests include the sources of plastic debris to the marine environment, understanding how ocean physics determines the distribution of plastic and other marine debris, and the degradation and ultimate fate of different plastic materials in the ocean.  Her recent work is focused “upstream” on the generation, pathways and treatment of plastic waste, ultimately striving to prevent plastic leakage to the environment. Dr. Law served as co-principal investigator of the Marine Debris Working Group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), is co-chair of the SCOR Working Group FLOTSAM (Floating Litter and its Oceanic TranSport Analysis and Modelling), and served on the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee that published the report, Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastics Waste, in 2022. Dr. Law holds a PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a BS in mathematics from Duke University. 

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