APRIL 17, 2015--Hello! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jessica White, the Deputy Director at the Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center (DRC) in Mobile, Alabama.

My career with OR&R started over 10 years ago when I had the great fortune of beginning my career with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Division in Dallas, Texas.

As a native Texan, my Bachelor of Science degree is from Texas Tech University and my Master of Science degree is from the University of North Texas. My career started with NOAA through Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), right out of grad school in 2003 and I still feel as lucky to have this job now as I did back then.

The bulk of my time with NOAA has been spent working on Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) issues for coastal hazardous waste sites in Texas and Louisiana. I have also had the opportunity to work on other projects, including cleanup of post-hurricane HAZMAT debris and coordination of field operations.

In my current job, I help maintain the DRC facility and coordinate various projects with our partners. It has been quite a deviation from my previous work experience, but I enjoy developing both new relationships with key stakeholders and new skills, such as contracting. If you haven’t yet visited the DRC, I hope you will be able to take advantage of one of the training opportunities held at our office.

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