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9.19.97 00:22:41
BOB KERR
He took an idea,
went with it,
and struck oil
The excitement spills out like oil from a grounded barge.
Chris Reddy talks about the things he does, the people he works with, the fellowship he's going to have at the best place in the world -- and there seems no limit to the possibilities.
``I have a good life,'' he says.
And last week it got a little sweeter.
This scientist from Rhode Island, just 28 and at the very beginning of his career, has neatly taken things learned at Rhode Island schools and returned the favor. He has made a simple discovery that could help clear the murky waters around the North Cape barge oil spill, and expose some very low-rent behavior by a very large shipping company.
He laughs when he looks back at the things that got him where he is, the things that bear such a heavy Rhode Island stamp.
``Can I put in a few shameless plugs here?'' he asks. ``My parents -- Joe and Sandra Reddy -- they're fabulous. And I've been to the best schools -- Cranston East, Rhode Island College, URI.''
He says he majored in wrestling when he was at Rhode Island College. He was good enough to be All-American in senior year.
But there was always science. He has always been good at science. He thinks his grandfather, who used to fiddle with electrical circuits, fed his brain early with a generous helping of curiosity.
Reddy built a crystal radio when he was a kid. He did a lot of the things that kids do to find out what makes things pop and spark and sizzle. It's just that he kept at it. He kept finding new attractions.
At RIC, he found the chemistry department.
``It's unbelievable. The chemistry department is fabulous. It's the jewel of Rhode Island College.''
He worked for a couple of chemical companies after he graduated, but he knew one thing for sure:
``You need a Ph.D. It's a license to do science.''
So he was off to the University of Rhode Island to study chemical oceanography, or what happens to compounds when they're dumped into the ocean -- compounds like the diesel fuel and home-heating oil that the North Cape spilled when it ran aground on Moonstone Beach last year.
The problem was, investigators concluded that it was only diesel fuel that spilled. Reddy knew that the more toxic heating oil was also fouling the waters; he had taken samples into the laboratory and proved it. He also had others, including scientists at the nearby EPA lab, double-check his results.
His information got circulated -- he was talking about it with anyone who would listen. But it wasn't getting a lot of attention.
``I'm just a graduate student. I think they were hoping I would just go away. But I knew one of these days it was going to hit the fan. It couldn't be overlooked.''
It wasn't. Last week, a panel of alleged government experts who had spent millions came to the same conclusion as Reddy (who had spent a lot of time but not much money). The acknowledgment means that damage estimates are probably way too low. It could also mean that Rhode Island will end up getting a lot more money from the oil company's insurance carriers -- all because of the efforts of one of the state's own. And that would all have a nice sense of symmetry about it.
``I'm excited, I'm floored,'' says Reddy.
He hopes to wrap up his Ph.D. in another month. Then there is a three-year fellowship at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, which, he says, is the top of the mountain for a scientist doing his kind of science.
He still gets on a wrestling mat occasionally, usually during clinics he holds for friends who are now coaches.
``I'd love to coach someday, but right now academia is winning out. I can do what I want -- I can get an idea and go with it.''
It will be a pleasure watching where the ideas take him.
Bob Kerr can be reached by
E-mail at bkerr@projo.com.
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