Dr. Kate Moran, recently appointed Director of the NEPTUNE Canada ocean network from her previous position of Assistant Director at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C. to speak at TEDxVancouver 2011

VANCOUVER, Oct. 28, 2011 /CNW/ - Dr. Kate Moran is a world-renowned ocean engineer, holding degrees in marine science and engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Rhode Island and Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on marine geotechnics and its application to the study of paleoclimate, tectonics and seafloor stability. She has authored numerous publications.

Dr. Kate Moran has led many major oceanographic expeditions, including the first drilling expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 2004. The following year she led the first expedition to find the source of the earthquake that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. She has also made major contributions to the assessment of seafloor hazards in Canada's offshore regions.

In her White House role, Moran's portfolio in the Obama administration included the oceans, the Arctic and Antarctic and climate change.  She also worked with an administration team that helped to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2009 oil spill. She was seconded to the White House position from a faculty appointment at the University of Rhode Island where she was a professor of oceanography and ocean engineering and associate dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography.

Moran started her five-year term with NEPTUNE Canada in September. NEPTUNE Canada and its coastal sister network, VENUS make up the University of Victoria's Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) Observatory. These networks pioneer a new generation of ocean observation systems that, using power and the Internet, provides continuous, long-term monitoring of ocean processes and events, as they happen.

To learn more about NEPTUNE Canada, please visit http://www.neptunecanada.ca

For more information about TEDxVancouver, please visit www.tedxvancouver.com. For regular event updates, follow @TEDxVancouver on Twitter.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

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Image with caption: "Kate Moran TEDxVancouver (CNW Group/TEDxVancouver)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20111028_C8555_PHOTO_EN_5679.jpg

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For more information about TEDxVancouver:
Visit www.TEDxVancouver.com
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Communications for TEDxVancouver:
Katie Reiach
604.614.5283
[e-mail]