Archive for March, 2008

The Earth’s Turmoil of the Last Deglacial Period

dnorris10 March 26th, 2008

James Kennett, professor of geological science at The University of California, Santa Barbara, discussed “The Earth’s Turmoil of the Last Deglacial Period” on Thursday, March 6, at The College of Wooster. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, is part of The Consortium for Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer Series. It began at 7 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.). A dessert reception followed the lecture.

Kennett’s research focuses on earth system history during the Cenozoic based on the analyses of the deep-sea sedimentary record and the uplifted marine record on land. One of his primary objectives is to help develop a better understanding of past global changes. He received a B.S. from the University of New Zealand and from Victoria University of Wellington, and a Ph.D. from Wellington as well as a D.Sc. degree. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow with the American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America. He also serves on the editorial advisory boards of The Island Arc, Marine Micropaleontology, and Paleoceanography.

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that represents 95 of the leading public and private ocean research education institutions, aquaria, and industry with the mission to advance research, education, and sound ocean policy. The series brings the scientific explorations and discoveries of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program to students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and to the geoscience community in general.

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Indigenous Peoples Creating, Managing and Conserving Biodiversity

dnorris10 March 26th, 2008

Jan Salick, curator of ethnobotany at Missouri Botanical Garden and professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, visited campus to present the second lecture, “Indigenous Peoples Creating, Managing and Conserving Biodiversity” on Wednesday, March 5. Salick’s research interests include ethnobotany, conservation biology, tropical ecology, and agroecology. She has published a number of articles, including “Tibetan Sacred Sites Conserve Old Growth Trees in the Eastern Himalayas” in Biodiversity and Conservation.

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Mega Eruptions, Mega Impacts, Mass Extinctions, and the Shape of Life*

dnorris10 March 26th, 2008

Paul E. Olsen, the Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, presented “Mega Eruptions, Mega Impacts, Mass Extinctions, and the Shape of Life” at the 27th annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, was held in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.), beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Olsen’s research focuses on the evolution of continental ecosystems, especially the pattern, causes and effects of climate change on geological time scales, mass extinctions, and the effects of evolutionary innovations on biogeochemical cycles. His projects include (1) drilling and studying 22,600 feet of core from 210 million-year-old lake beds to understand the influence of variations of the earth’s orbit on climate; (2) analysis of the mass extinction 201 million years ago that set up dinosaurian dominance; (3) excavations at major fossil vertebrate sites throughout North America and Morocco; and (4) the evolutionary events mediating the carbon cycle and climate change. Olsen, who has a B.A. in Geology and a Ph.D. in Biology (both from Yale University), is the author of more than 170 publications and has appeared in numerous documentaries on the history of life and climate.

The Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lectureship in Geology was endowed in 1981 by his three sons in memory of their father, a paleontologist with an international reputation who taught at Wooster from 1967 until 1981. Funds from this endowment are used to bring a well-known scientist interested in paleontology and/or stratigraphy to campus each year to lecture and meet with students. The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Geology and the Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture Endowed Fund.

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* - Due to a technical error the first few minutes of the lecture were not captured

Tropical Biodiversity: An Endangered Natural Treasure

dnorris10 March 26th, 2008

Rodolfo Dirzo, professor of biology at Stanford University, opened the Environmental Analysis and Action Symposium series on Wednesday, Feb. 20, when he presented “Tropical Biodiversity: An Endangered Natural Treasure.” Dirzo studies plant-animal interactions in an effort to better understand how the ecology and evolution of plants are affected by their biotic environment. His work is focused on tropical forest ecosystems, and he has written extensively on the topic, including a book, titled Tropical Forests: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning. In addition, he has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Award in Ecology from the Secretary of Environment of Mexico.

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Democracy and Access to Higher Education

dnorris10 March 25th, 2008

On Feb. 19, Catharine Bond Hill, President and Professor of Economics at Vassar College, examined “Democracy and Access to Higher Education.” Hill co-authored “Access to the Most Selective Private Colleges by High-Ability, Low-Income Students: Are They Out There?” in College Access: Opportunity or Privilege? and “Affordability: Family Incomes and Net Prices at Highly Selective Private Colleges and Universities” in the Journal of Human Resources. She has been selected for a number of scholarly awards, grants, and fellowships from such organizations as the American Council of Learned Societies, the Brookings Institution, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. She graduated summa cum laude from Williams College, and also earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at Brasenose College, Oxford University, with first-class honors in politics, philosophy and economics. She completed her Ph.D. in economics at Yale University.

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