New London — Susan Shaw, marine toxicologist, public health professional, explorer and author who dove into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick a month after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010 will give a talk at the Weller Center at Mitchell College at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23.

The talk is free and open to the public.

During her talk, she will share insights from her investigation in the Gulf and her decades of pioneering research on ocean pollution.

Her investigation focused on the impact of massive amounts of chemical dispersants being used to sink the oil.

She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Strategic Sciences Working Group, a team of 14 scientists charged with assessing consequences of the oil spill and recommending policy actions.

Her account of the hidden damage below the water’s surface was published in the New York Times and widely broadcast through TED talks and international media including CNN.

She is the director and founder of the Marine & Environmental Research Institute in Blue Hill, Maine, and professor in the School of Public Health at University at Albany, N.Y.