Brooks Becomes Laborde Chair

Bryan Brooks, a distinguished professor of environmental science and public health at Baylor University, and editor in chief of Environmental Science & Technology Letters, has been named Laborde Endowed Chair for Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer at Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG). His appointment is from mid-July through mid-December.

During his appointment, Brooks will work on a project to advance the environmental chemistry of toxins produced by harmful algal blooms (HABs) across the freshwater-to-marine continuum.

Brooks is a HAB expert with current research funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Oceans and Human Health program and the National Science Foundation to study the ecology, chemistry, toxicology and treatment of cyanotoxins produced during HAB events. He has published broadly on Prymnesium parvum, a HAB-forming species that impacts coastal fisheries worldwide. He has 300-plus publications.

The John P. Laborde Endowed Chair for Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer enables Louisiana Sea Grant to bring highly qualified scientists to LSU to focus on marine and coastal issues critical to the state while providing those researchers with supplemental funding. To date, 11 internationally recognized researchers have been appointed to the endowed chair. The chair was established in 1994 with a gift of $600,000 from Tidewater Inc. – where John P. Laborde served as CEO for nearly 40 years – and a match of $400,000 from the Louisiana Board of Regents.