Cornell Scientist to Speak on Energy and Climate Planning at Horn Point Lab, May 3

The Horn Point Laboratory will offer a public lecture by Dr. Robert Howarth on Friday, May 3rd at 1:30 p.m. at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Van Lennep Auditorium in St. Michaels, MD. The event is free to the public, with limited seating. Dr. Howarth is one of TIME Magazine’s 50 people who matter in 2011 and the David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.

Dr. Howarth topic is “Transitioning to a world without fossil fuels by 2050.” He will describe New York State’s forward-looking energy and climate planning and how it may provide a road map for Maryland and the rest of the country. He will explore the idea of shale gas as a bridge fuel in the process of transitioning away from fossil fuel dependency and discuss the future of sustainable energy technologies.

For the past 35 years, Dr. Howarth’s research program has focused on how human activity affects the environment, with emphases on global change and coastal ocean water quality. Howarth also works on greenhouse gas emissions and the ecological consequences of oil and gas development. He was the head consultant for the State of Alaska’s Attorney General on the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Dr. Howarth was selected as the 2014 “Ian Morris Scholar in Residence” for the Horn Point Laboratory, an honored tradition in which graduate students at the laboratory invite a distinguished scholar to lead scientific discussion during a week of interactive activities.

Horn Point students welcome the public to a reception immediately following the lecture to speak with Dr. Howarth and to visit displays about their research. They are among the approximately 100 young people across the laboratories of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science that are enrolled in a graduate education program to advance their careers as the scientific leaders and problem-solvers of the future.