Dear Geographers,
Please see below and attached for information on a special seminar series this coming Spring, brought to you with funding from the College of Arts and Sciences' Haines Morris Endowment, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, our Department,
and Phi Beta Kappa.
Two of the speakers will give their formal presentations as part of the regular program of visiting speakers in EEB (Friday afternoons), and the third, Dr. Kendra McLauchlan (from the Department of Geography at Kansas State), will give her formal presentation
as part of our Geography colloquium on Thursday, February 23. All speakers will also give informal talks; Kendra's informal talk will be in the Burchfiel Building, and will serve as our Lillian Stimson event for this year.
Geographers (and colleagues and students from across campus) are cordially invited to attend all of the formal and informal talks! Please mark your calendars.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Sally
Anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases and particulates in the atmosphere, and modifications of land surfaces and energy balances, are changing Earth’s climate, with important implications for the biosphere and humankind moving forward. Shifts in temperature, patterns of precipitation, and the frequency of extreme climate events are occurring worldwide, and global climate models indicate that bigger changes are coming. These changes are having and will have profound impacts on the basic biology, ecology, and diversity of organisms on the planet and are a major focus of conservation efforts. Understanding and sharing research on the effects of climate change on biota, ecosystems, and landscapes is critical to finding the best approaches to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the biosphere.
At the same time, a “changing climate” is also occurring in the cultural environment of science, with more women than ever advancing in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields to tackle global change issues, in response to increasing opportunities, interest, and recruitment. Better inclusion of women and other under-represented groups into climate change research may bring unique skillsets and approaches to science that could broaden our understanding of climate change impacts and perhaps provide new insights and solutions to complex problems. But many STEM fields still have major cultural impediments and unconscious biases that limit the number of women researchers in these fields. This seminar series couples the current understanding of biological research on climate change from a variety of fields, while also presenting perspectives and insights on the changing social climate for women in science.