 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Friday Evening Lecture Series
July 3, 2009
Lillie Auditorium, 8:00 PM
"Coastal Cities, Coastal Impacts: The Tides They Are A-Changin"
Susan K. Avery, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Introduced by Dr. Gary Borisy
Lecture Abstract:
Fourteen of our country’s 20 largest urban areas are located on a coast and more than half of U.S. population—and also global population—lives within 50 miles of a coast. In fact, two-thirds of the world’s largest cities are on a coast. Even with a stationary climate, that concentration of population and resources portends trouble in the coastal zone. But we know that current climate is not stationary, and that climate change will lead to rising sea levels that will impinge on high density coastal populations. What is the current state of prediction, and what are some socioeconomic implications for our nation? What if a 100-year flood in New York City became a 4-year flood? How can science help? Dr. Avery will address these and other questions related to impacts of a changing climate on our coastal resources and environments.
Susan K. Avery became president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in February, 2008 and is the first woman to hold the position. As an oceanographic leader with a background in atmospheric research, Dr. Avery has used her unique position to underscore the importance of ocean-atmosphere interactions in understanding whole Earth systems. Dr. Avery earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Michigan State University, a master's in physics from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois. She came to WHOI from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she was a faculty member since 1982, and where she served in interim positions as vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school, as well as provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. From 1994 to 2004, she served as director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, the first woman and first engineer to hold that position. Dr. Avery’s research includes studies of atmospheric circulation and precipitation, climate variability and water resources, and the development of new radar techniques and instruments for remote sensing. The author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Avery helped form an integrated science and assessment program that examines the impacts of climate variability on water in the American West. She also worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Climate Change Science Program to help formulate a national strategic science plan for climate research. Dr. Avery is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the American Meteorological Society, for which she also served as president. She is a member of the advisory board for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a past chair of the board of trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. She has also served on numerous advisory panels, committees, and councils for the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Dr. Gary Borisy will introduce Dr. Avery. Dr. Borisy became the MBL’s 13th Director and 3rd CEO in 2006. Previously he was Associate Vice President for Research and the Leslie B. Arey Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After serving a postdoctoral fellowship at the MRC in Cambridge, England, Dr. Borisy joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, rising through the professional ranks to Chairman of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Perlman-Bascom Professor of Life Sciences, before moving to Northwestern in 2000. Dr. Borisy is the author of more than 200 papers, the editor of two books, and has received numerous professional honors, including an NIH Merit award and the Carl Zeiss award from the German Society for Cell Biology. In April, 2009 he was elected into the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Borisy has served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the biotech company CombinatoRx, located in Cambridge, MA.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
