- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

EARTHtalk! lecture to shed light on importance of preserving dark skies, mitigating impacts of artificial outdoor light

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 13:56:47 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences will host a lecture Oct. 16 on the environmental and health impacts associated with the use of artificial light at night in the outdoor environment. J. Bruce McMath, retired civil trial lawyer and chair of the , will give the talk, “Preserving Arkansas’ Natural Dark Skies: It’s not Just About the Stars,” at 6 p.m. Oct. 16 at the College of Engineering and Information Technology building auditorium. McMath will discuss the aesthetic and cultural impacts of losing visual access to the natural night sky as well as the role of wasted light in global warming, the biological impacts to wildlife, and risks to human health. McMath will also offer methods for mitigating these impacts through responsible lighting techniques. McMath is past president of the and a member of the , where he serves on the Photometric Validation Team. McMath has recorded over 75,000 variable star observations, discovered two variable stars, and initiated the reclassification of several others.

EARTHtalk! lecture to highlight changes in reefs, threats to modern reef ecosystems

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 17:03:18 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock assistant professor will lecture Sept. 18 on changes in ocean reefs through time, the implications of human impacts on modern reef systems, and actions being taken across the world to protect reefs from terminal decline. Dr. René Shroat-Lewis, U.S. Navy veteran and assistant professor of Earth sciences, will give the talk, “Diving Deeper: Exploring the Changes in Reefs Through Time” at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the College of Engineering and Information Technology building auditorium. The talk is part of the Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! series. “In the last 540 million years, reefs have diversified, undergone extinctions, and diversified again,” said Shroat-Lewis. “Changes in climate have played a role in this process, with rising greenhouse gases and ocean acidification causing the decline of organisms and the reefs they built.” According to Shroat-Lewis, pollution, sedimentation, physical damage, tourism, and global warming are the principle threats to modern reef ecosystems. “Evidence suggests that coral reefs will pass a point of no return around 2040 and go into terminal decline, eventually disappearing at the end of this century. Based upon evidence from the fossil record, it may be millions of years before they return,” Shroat-Lewis said. Shroat-Lewis currently researches coral reef diversity on San Salvador Island, the Bahamas. She contributes paleoecology presentations at geology conferences and publishes research findings in the PALAIOS journal.

Lecture to discuss urban farming in Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:13:34 +0000

Urban farming in Little Rock will be the topic of the next at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The lecture, “Farming in the Rock,” will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in the College of Engineering and Information Technology Auditorium. Chris Hiryak of Little Rock Urban Farming will share lessons learned from a decade of producing and marketing organically grown flowers and vegetables in the capital city. Hiryak is an organic farmer, pragmatic food activist, minimalist, artist, and yoga practitioner. He graduated from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with bachelor’s degrees in Spanish, history, and international studies. He participated in the LeadAR, a leadership program through the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension, and an apprenticeship program at Dripping Springs Garden, an organic farming operation in the Ozark Mountains. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of Earth Sciences at 501-569-3546 or visit the.

Hydrogeologist will detail results of hypothetical study of chemical resolvent spill

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 14:18:02 +0000

Tim Hill, principal hydrologist and director of environmental services for ATOKA, Inc., will give the next ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 20. The lecture, “Hydrogeologic Study of a Chemical Solvent Tank Containment Area,” will begin at 6 p.m. in the College of Engineering and Information Technology Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Hill will discuss the results of ATOKA’s hydrogeological study of a hypothetical chemical solvent release from an above ground storage tank at a chemical manufacturing site. The purpose of the study was to produce a model capable of estimating the rate and extent of contamination resulting from a hypothetical spill from a chemical solvent tank. Two different scenarios were developed for the model. The first scenario describes a chemical solvent release during wet conditions when soils are saturated. In the second scenario, the release occurs during dry conditions when soils are unsaturated and the shallow water table is depleted. Hill is an environmental leader and hydrogeologist with distinguished international, corporate, and consulting assignments. He has provided leadership direction to corporate and facility managers, environmental staff, coordinators, and contractors in implementing cost effective environmental programs and new technologies for new plant startups, mergers, and acquisitions. For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501-569-3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the.

Nature Conservancy director to discuss Arkansas conservation projects in next EARTHtalk! lecture

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 16:07:55 +0000

The director of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas will talk about conservation and restoration projects in Arkansas during the next ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series on Wednesday, Oct. 17. The talk, “Forests, Rivers, and Fire: Restoring the Natural State with The Nature Conservancy,” will begin at 6 p.m. in the Schueck, McCarty, Lexicon Inc. Auditorium in the Engineering and Information Technology Building. It is free and open to the public. Scott Simon, director of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas, will talk about innovative prescribed fire, river restoration, and reforestation projects happening in Arkansas. Guests will also learn about conservancy preserves to visit in central Arkansas. Simon joined The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas as a land steward in 1996 and became the conservancy’s director in 2003. He previously worked as a wetland ecologist for the Illinois Natural History Survey. Scott has helped to develop conservation projects in Central America and Africa, testifies on conservation issues for congressional and state legislative committees, and has authored 20 articles and book chapters. For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501-569-3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the.

Toltec Mounds researcher to kick off 2018-19 EARTHtalk! series

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 20:52:25 +0000

An archeologist researching the Toltec Mounds will start off the 2018-19 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series on Wednesday, Sept. 19. The talk, “The First Farmers and Lost Crops of Arkansas,” will begin at 6 p.m. in the Engineering and Information Technology Building auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Dr. Elizabeth Horton, an archeologist at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park and research assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, studies paleoethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants, with a special interest in the use of plants for technological purposes. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied the 3,000-year-old fabric technologies of basketry and textiles and plant fiber use in the Ozark Plateau of Arkansas and Missouri. After completing a post-doctoral position with the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 2010, she was hired as the station archaeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Toltec Mounds Research Station. She continues to research the people-plant interactions of the Native Americans who once lived at Toltec Mounds and runs a publicly accessible research garden. For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501-569-3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the.

Patton to discuss danger of abandoned oil and gas wells at next EARTHtalk! lecture

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:06:15 +0000

Dr. Jason Patton, associate professor of geology at Arkansas Tech University, will discuss the environmental impact of abandoned oil and gas wells in the U.S. on Wednesday, April 18, as part of the EARTHtalk! lecture series at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The talk, “Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: Infallible Barrier orEnvironmental Disaster?”, will begin at 6 p.m. in the Engineering and Information Technology Building. Across the U.S., more than one million abandoned oil and gas wells are thought to exist. Many of these wells were drilled before significant regulation of the industry existed and were not properly plugged. “These wells represent a possible environmental hazard because they can act as a conduit from the deeper subsurface allowing naturally occurring brines and/or injected waste fluids to contaminate shallow groundwater, or they can allow powerful greenhouse gases to escape to the atmosphere,” Patton said. Patton has more than 20 years of experience working on a wide variety of environmental projects. During his early career, Patton worked as an environmental consultant in the oil and gas industry. Much of his academic career has focused on the effects of sedimentation on water quality, primarily in drinking water sources. Patton served as the director of the Arkansas Center for Energy, Natural Resources, and Environmental Studies at Arkansas Tech University for seven years and is currently a board member on the Arkansas Board for Registration for Professional Geologists. He was recently selected as an executive committee member on the National Association of State Boards of Geology, and is the incoming chair for the Department of Physical Sciences at Arkansas Tech, where he has been a faculty member for 10 years.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of Earth Sciences at 501-569-3546 or visit the EARTHtalk! website.

Little Rock sustainability officer to give next EARTHtalk lecture

Jenny Lambert — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 14:33:24 +0000

Melinda Glasgow, sustainability officer for the city of Little Rock, will discuss efforts to promote principles of sustainability in Arkansas’ capital during the next EARTHtalk lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology auditorium. It is free and open to the public. In 2015, the Sustainability Commission released the city’s first sustainability plan, the “2020 Sustainability Roadmap,” which is broken down into five categories: Energy, The Built Environment, Economic Development, The Natural Environment, and Quality of Life. During her presentation, Glasgow will discuss these categories and the specific goals associated with them, along with the progress the commission has made with each. Glasgow, in conjunction with her position as a sustainability officer, also serves as the executive director of Keep Little Rock Beautiful. She has helped to develop and coordinate several programs and events including LRecycles, America Recycles Day, and Recycling on a Roll. For more information, contact the Department of Earth Sciences at 501-569-3546 or visit the EARTHtalk! website.

EARTHtalk! lecture to explore climate change

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:35:14 +0000

Dr. Jessica Scott, assistant director of the Donaghey Scholars honors program and anthropology instructor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will discuss climate change during the next EARTHtalk lecture Wednesday, Nov. 15. Scott’s presentation, “The Climate Reality Project: The Need for Change and the Reasons for Hope,” is targeted for non-scientists. She will present evidence of climate change and give an overview of what is known about its impact, including extreme weather events, sea level rise, decrease in crop yield and risk to global health. She also will discuss renewable energies and what policy and industry experts predict over the next few years. The lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Scott participated in the Climate Reality Project Corps Leadership Training, led by former Vice President Al Gore, and teaches courses in dental anthropology, Egyptology, and human evolution. For more information, contact the Department of Earth Sciences at 501-569-3546 or visit the EARTHtalk! website.

EARTHtalk! lecture to explore origins of springs in Hot Springs National Park

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 17:07:06 +0000

An expert will explore the science behind the hot springs of Hot Springs National Park in the next EARTHtalk! lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Dr. Lindsey Waddell, geoscience and chemistry instructor for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, will discuss “The Geology of Hot Springs National Park: Ensuring the Future of our Thermal Waters” beginning at 6 p.m. Oct. 18, at the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology Auditorium on the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus. The event is free and open to the public. Waddell earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in oceanography, marine geology, and geochemistry from the University of Michigan. At the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, Waddell created a “Research in the Park” service-learning course in which students carry out scientific research projects at Hot Springs National Park. Past projects have included digitizing insect collections from the park’s archive, invasive plant and animal monitoring, and studying the bacteria of the thermal springs water. In 2017, the National Park Service awarded the course the George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service by a Youth Group award. For more information, contact Dr. Michael DeAngelis at 501.569.3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! website.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock