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A common problem when responding to disasters is that a small number of highly proficient faculty scholars will agree to a few initial interviews, and then rapidly get sucked into the media vortex. This can be problematic when the scientists end up putting off their scientific work in order to accommodate media requests. Of course, this is a balancing act, but it is the responsibility of the university leadership, in conjunction with relevant faculty scholars, to know ‘when to say when’ so to speak, and not let faculty get too overwhelmed with responding to media inquiries. 8. Understand what it is you do well, and play to your strength. Even comprehensive research universities have certain strengths that set them apart from their local or inter-state peers. Understanding what these strengths are, and being prepared to make decisions that involve resource allocation and hence may generate conflict is an unpleasant but necessary task. 9. Be practical and realistic. One of the most powerful lessons to be gleaned from the entire experience is that no one – neither a private company nor a major research university – is prepared to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. Even a major research institution such as LSU has limitations in terms of people, power, and capacity, and private corporations like BP have enormous legal machinery that tends to slow the process down. Choose your battles, and be persistent, but realize that some things will take time to get done right.