Peyton Robertson

Director, NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office
Peyton Robertson has been Director of NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office since August 2007. This One NOAA office is located in Annapolis, Maryland, and supports the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, the Nation's largest estuary. Peyton joined NCBO in 2002 as the Deputy Director and liaison with NOAA's National Ocean Service. Prior to that, he worked for the NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, leading NOAA's coastal nonpoint pollution control program. He has supported several agency initiatives, including the NOAA Program Review and development of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan. His first real job was as a field educator and naturalist, working for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The latest and greatest from NOAA is the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System. Buoys are at 11 locations around the Bay and update meteorological data every 10 minutes and wave, current, and water-quality data every hour. All data is available via website, mobile apps, toll-free phone number, data download and API.

Antonio J. Busalacchi

Director, University of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC)

Antonio (Tony) Busalacchi is the Director of the University of Maryland’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Science, and the Chair of the University of Maryland Council on the Environment. Tony came to ESSIC in 2000, after serving as Chief of the NASA/Goddard Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes.  His interests include the study of climate variability and prediction, tropical ocean modeling, ocean remote sensing, and data assimilation. His research in these areas has supported a range of international and national research programs dealing with global change and climate, particularly as affected by the oceans.