WISE, SUNY-ESF to host climate scientist on March 6

WISE, SUNY-ESF to host climate scientist on March 6February 28, 2007SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist in the Global Environment Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Washington, D.C., will speak on “Global Warming: The Science Behind the Headlines” on Tuesday, March 6, at 4 p.m. in the Marshall Hall Auditorium on the campus of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF).

The lecture is presented by Syracuse University’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Initiative, SU’s Graduate School, SUNY-ESF and the SUNY-ESF Women’s Caucus. The event is free and open to the public; pay parking is available in the Irving Garage. A reception will follow in the Nifkin Alumni Lounge.

Ekwurzel is leading UCS’s climate science education work aimed at strengthening support for strong federal climate legislation and sound U.S. climate policies. Prior to joining UCS, Ekwurzel was on the faculty of the University of Arizona Department of Hydrology and Water Resources with a joint appointment in the geosciences department. Her specialty is isotope geochemistry, a tool she has used to study climate variability in places as disparate as the Arctic Ocean and the desert Southwest.

She has published on topics that include climate variability and fire, isotopic dating of groundwater, Arctic Ocean tracer oceanography, paleohydrology and coastal sediment erosion. She has also worked as a hydrologist with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, working with communities to protect groundwater sources.

Ekwurzel completed her doctorate work at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and post-doctoral research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

For more information, visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm or http://www.phy.syr.edu/wise.