Inside the Laboratory: How Chromatography Research Shaped a Recent Documentary

"Inside the Laboratory" is a joint series with LCGC and Spectroscopy, profiling analytical scientists and their research groups at universities all over the world. This series spotlights the current chromatographic and spectroscopic research their groups are conducting, and the importance of their research in analytical chemistry and specific industries. In a continuation of our Inside the Laboratory interview with Chris Reddy, we asked him about the recent documentary, “Out of Plain Sight,” that featured him and his team’s research.

Chris Reddy is a Senior Scientist with the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He received his BS in Chemistry at Rhode Island College, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. His research specializes in oil spills, with over 25 years of experience studying major incidents such as the North Cape (1996), Bouchard 120 (2003), Deepwater Horizon (2010), and Wakashio (2020) (1–3). He has also led efforts to investigate the long-term ecological impacts of historical oil spills, such as those from the Florida (1969) and Bouchard 65 (1974) in Buzzards Bay, revealing ongoing damage to marine life and ecosystems (1). Additionally, Reddy and his team have studied natural oil seeps along the California coastline and Gulf of Mexico.

He has testified five times for US Congress (2). In the wake of environmental crises, he has advised the US Department of Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, and State and responded to requests from Peru, Mauritius, Brazil, Japan, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

An advocate for science communication, Reddy was awarded the Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship in 2006, enabling him to engage effectively with the public, policymakers, and media (2). He has written over 30 op-eds for prominent publications and teaches graduate-level courses and workshops on science communication (2). Reddy is the author of “Science Communication in a Crisis: An Insider's Guide” and "A Kids Book About Being a Scientist" (2).

Reddy's achievements include the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Prize (2002) and 3x participant in the Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium (2009), a prestigious recognition by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for scientists under 45. In 2014, he was honored with the C.C. Patterson Award for his work on the impacts of petroleum in the ocean, and in 2018, the American Geophysical Union recognized Reddy’s achievements as a science communicator with the “Ambassador Award.” He is also the 2024 recipient of the American Chemical Society's Grady-Stack Award for “materially increasing the public’s knowledge and understanding of chemistry”.

“Out of Plain Sight” premiered on Saturday November 16^th at 6:15 pm at Village East Cinemas by Angelika. This documentary explores how Reddy and his team discovered and analyzed approximately half a million barrels of DDT waste that had been dumped into the Pacific Ocean, and how the discovery of this pollutant may lead to more. Reddy was on the boat when the barrels were found, and the samples recovered from the site were sent to his lab, where he and his colleague Bob Nelson conducted the analysis.

Reddy attended the premiere with his family. In the final part of our “Inside the Laboratory” interview with Reddy, he talks about his experience attending the premiere and how his research helped shape this documentary.

This interview segment addresses the following question:

• Your team’s research was the inspiration for a recently released documentary, “Out of Plain Sight.” Can you talk about your experience attending the premiere of this movie, and what was highlighted in the movie that relates back to what your team did?
• What was your role in the documentary?

This interview is our third and final part of our conversation with Reddy.

You can watch Part 1 here.

You can watch Part 2 here.

References

1. Chris Reddy Lab, Oil Spill Research. WHOI.edu. Available at: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/chrisreddylab/oil-spill-research/ (accessed 2024-11-27).
2. Christopher Reddy Personal website. Available at: https://christopherreddy.com/about (accessed 2025-01-07).
3. Out of Plain Sight. Documentary Homepage. Out of Plain Sight. Available at: https://www.outofplainsight.com/ (accessed 2024-11-27).