Dr. Kildow, a Senior Research Scientist at The Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California, is a policy analyst who, for the past thirty years, has taught and authored articles and books about coastal management and ocean policy. She was a professor of Ocean Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 27 years ; has served on numerous federal commissions, including the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere; and has been a member of many national and state committees, including The Marine Board and The Ocean Sciences Boards of the National Academy of Sciences. She was educated at Grinnell College and received her Ph.D. in International Relations and Science Policy from the Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Dr. Kildow is currently director of the National Ocean Economics Project, headquartered at USC. (www.OceanEconomics.org). She and a national research team are working to produce a 30-year database to estimate the value of the oceans to the US economy. She is also completing a textbook on managing the coast, to be published by MIT Press in the near future.