Susan D. Shaw ( born October 24 , 1943 in Dallas , Texas ) is an American environmental health scientist , explorer , ocean conservationist , and author . A Doctor of Public Health , she is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at the State University of New York at Albany , and Founder/President of the Shaw Institute , a nonprofit scientific institution with a mission to improve human and ecological health through innovative science and strategic partnerships . Shaw is globally recognized for pioneering high-impact environmental research on ocean pollution , climate change , oil spills , and plastics that has fueled public policy over three decades . In 1983 , with landscape photographer Ansel Adams , she published '' Overexposure '' , the first book to document the health hazards of photographic chemicals . Shaw is credited as the first scientist to show that brominated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean . She became the first scientist to dive into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion to investigate the impacts of chemical dispersants used in response to the spill . An outspoke voice on ocean pollution , Shaw travels globally to raise awareness on toxic legacy of man-made chemicals and its impact on public health and the environment . Shaw received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas in 1967 with a major in Plan II , an interdisciplinary honors program modeled after the Harvard Society of Fellows Program . Selected for the UT-Chilean Exchange Program in 1964 , she spent a year in Chile as a Fulbright Scholar . She earned an MFA degree in Film from Columbia University in 1970 , and a doctorate in Public Health/Environmental Health Sciences ( Dr.P.H . ) from Columbia University 's School of Public Health in 1999
2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Susan D. Shaw