State Task Force Efforts

Dr. Don Anderson is a senior scientist in the Biology Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He earned three degrees from MIT – a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering. Dr. Anderson is the former director of WHOI’s Coastal Ocean Institute, and presently serves as director of the Cooperative Institute for North Atlantic Research.

Dr. Anderson also serves as director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms.

Emily Cooley joined the Florida Department of Health in August 2022 as an Environmental Consultant in the Bureau of Environmental Health’s Aquatic Toxins Section, where she is responsible for building on partnerships and collaborations to assist with relaying public health information related to harmful algal blooms (HABs). She has a B.S. and a M.S. in Biochemistry from Mississippi State University, with a special focus in plant biochemistry and cellular biology. Prior to coming to Florida, she worked as a contracted Research Scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where she researched freshwater HABs.

Dr. Duane De Freese currently serves as the executive director of the Indian River Lagoon Council, an independent Special District of Florida and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. 

Dr. De Freese holds a B.S. degree in zoology from the University of Rhode Island and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in marine biology from Florida Institute of Technology.

Dr. Quay Dortch currently manages two National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration programs that provide federal funding for research on the causes and impacts and prevention, control and mitigation of harmful algal blooms.

Dr. Dortch received her B.A. in chemistry from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, M.S. in chemistry from Indiana University and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Oceanography.

Dr. Kate Hubbard leads Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute's harmful algal bloom (HAB) monitoring and research program and since 2020, directs FWC’s Center for Red Tide Research. She works closely with a broad network of international, federal, regional, state, county, academic, nonprofit, industry, and citizen partners to sustain and advance HAB monitoring and research. 

Dr. Hubbard received a B.A. in biology from New College of Florida and earned both her M.S. and PhD in biological oceanography from the University of Washington. 

Dr. Charles Jacoby is the supervising environmental scientist for the Estuaries Section at the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Dr. Jacoby has over 40 years of experience in designing, conducting and interpreting research that guides management of natural resources, and he has led or co-led projects worth over $30 million.

Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick is the executive director for the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observation System. She has more than 35 years of experience in human and environmental epidemiology.

She started her career as a respiratory care supervisor at Duke University Medical Center before going on to receive a master’s degree in health occupations education at North Carolina State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Sarasota.

Dr. Sherry Larkin is a natural resource and environmental economist tenured in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida. Her main area of interest involves projects relating to the sustainable use of marine resources.

She earned her Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from Oregon State University and has been a faculty member at UF/IFAS since 2000.

Michelle Smith has a B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. Her career has taken her to various locations around the country before joining Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fisheries Dependent Monitoring Section in 2011. She joined the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2015 as an Environmental Specialist in the Division of Aquaculture. Michelle is currently the Environmental Administrator for the Division of Aquaculture’s Shellfish Harvesting Area Classification Program (SHACP). The SHACP is responsible for monitoring water quality to ensure harvested shellfish are safe for public consumption, including monitoring and responding to harmful algal blooms.

Rhonda Watkins is a principal environmental specialist with Collier County Pollution Control. She has been monitoring red tide for nearly 26 years and has participated in various research programs and grant panels involving red tide.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wittenberg University with focused studies in limnology and aquatic biology including special studies in oceanography and marine biology completed at Duke University.

David Whiting works for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as the deputy director over the laboratory and water quality standards programs within the Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration.

Dave has a B.A. degree in fisheries and wildlife management and a M.A. in ecology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.