Buffett Visits USM Gulf Coast Research Lab

Last week Jimmy Buffett visited the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory to see how their work is going as their Oil Response Team tries to combat the oil spill in the gulf:

The singer and songwriter met with the University’s President, Dr. Martha Saunders and her team of researchers on June sixth.

Buffett visited USM’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs to talk about their needs regarding the examination of this spill. To help out, Buffett partnered with a boat company from Florida called Dragonfly Boats. Designer, Mark Castlow is creating specialized boats for the lab.

Buffett is donating those vessels to the University. Dr. Saunders said Buffett e-mailed her about two weeks ago saying he wanted to see the lab’s work.

“So he came and met with our scientists and got a briefing on the kind of work we are doing. And Mark Castlow came and we talked about the progress of the boats and so it was a great day. We got to see a great alum and talk about what we can do together toward maybe improving the prospects with this oil spill,” said Saunders.

Jimmy graduated from USM in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

You can donate to the Southern Miss Oil Spill Response fund visit at www.usmfoundation.com/oilspill and read about the Spill Response Team here.

Read more about Buffett and the Dragonfly boats here.