Joe Mullin has had a front-row seat to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for the past four months, from his office in Virginia.

Mullin is the program manager of the oil spill response research program for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, formerly the Minerals Management Agency.

Mullin, who has been in this job for 20 years, lives near Mount Pleasant. before going to work for BOEM, as his agency is called, he worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a technical expert in physical oceanography.

Mullin’s job includes oversight of an oil spill response research test program. Results from that program are being applied to the oil spill response, Mullin wrote in an e-mail. Many of the containment booms and skimmers used in the response were tested at the agency’s test center Ohmsett, in Leonardo, N.J.

Another part of the test program involves an aerial sensor. This remotely maps the extent and thickness of an oil spill. This mapping and detection technology has also been used three times in California and in the Gulf.

The system acquires, processes and disseminates oil slick thickness maps compatible to the digital Geographic Information system. These maps are then transmitted directly to the command post to use in determining what resources should be used and where.

The test program showed that changing the surface pattern of the drum in the skimmers would improve efficiency of the oil cleanup process by more than 200 percent. Results from this research project were patented and there are at least six types of grooved skimmers being commercially sold around the world.

The agency has been conducting experiments to determine if burning could be a countermeasure for the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The test center has also conducted 15 research projects on the use of chemical dispersants. Ohmsett is the premier training site for oil spill response workers from state and federal agencies, private industry and foreign countries. Students use full-size equipment with real oil in varying oceanographic conditions.

BOEM’s national offshore office, where Mullin works, is in Herndon, Va. for security reasons, the entire interview was conducted by e-mail through the office of public affairs.

Mullin also is responsible for the analysis of the outer continental shelf oil and gas operations to ensure the best and safest technologies are used. He also advises on appropriate oil spill response equipment, techniques and methods.

Mullin, 58, moved to Frederick County in 1979. He is a graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in oceanographic technology. He and his wife, Deborah, raised two daughters. Both graduated from Linganore High School.

His oldest daughter, Suzanne, is an aeronautical cartographer with the Federal Aviation Administration, and she is married to a pilot. his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is pursuing her nursing degree while working part time in a physical therapy office. Elizabeth was the 2004 Maryland state girls outdoor pole vault champion. Both daughters live in Frederick.

Frederick resident involved in oil spill response – The Frederick News-Post Online