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BP has assembled a handful of experts to focus on shifting distribution of oil below the Gulf of Mexico's surface. One of those experts is Michel Boufadel, a professor in Temple's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The situation, explained Boufadel, is complicated by the large number of factors that impact the shape of the ever-expanding underwater plume of oil. "The oil is rising. You have the small droplets going sideways and the big drops going up. You have the tide pushing the water back and forth. And you also have the Gulf loop current," he explained.