Climate Change Expert to Speak at Research Expo
Richard Alley, a Penn State University climate-change researcher who shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, will be the keynote speaker for Research Expo 2008 at Old Dominion University's Ted Constant Convocation Center on April 9.
The all-day event is sponsored by ODU, Norfolk State University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and the Tidewater Consortium for Higher Education.
Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, served on the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Prize with Gore "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." His research interests include glaciology and ice coring to reveal paleoclimates.
His keynote address will be at 3 p.m.
The entire 5th annual Research Expo, which runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., will be free and open to the public.
ODU launched the daylong event in 2004. Norfolk State has participated since 2005, and EVMS joined a year later. Other institutions affiliated with the Virginia Tidewater Consortium participated in 2007 and will again this year. Consortium members include the College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, Hampton University and the Joint Forces Staff College.
About 1,500 people attended last year's Expo and even more are expected this year, said Kaethe Ferguson, director of research development in ODU's Office of Research and the chair of the Expo steering committee. "We invite alumni and friends of our participating institutions to attend, as well as anyone else in our communities who would like to know more about the best work of our faculties and students."
At least 400 posters, exhibits and demonstrations in fields ranging from nuclear physics to fine arts will make up the basic program. Musical performances and an art show will be included in the event, as well as demonstrations of research accomplishments in areas such as biofuel production and medical modeling and simulation.
New this year will be a Corporate Connection networking session, bringing together businessmen, entrepreneurs and academic researchers to explore partnerships. That session is from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
In addition, there will be three panel discussions, featuring experts from the participating institutions and from outside industries and agencies. Their titles and times are: "Fostering an Ethical Research Environment" (9-10:30 a.m.); "Global Climate Change" (11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.), and "Democracy and Research Worldwide" (1-2:30 p.m.).
Mohammad Karim, ODU's vice president for research, said, "This forum promotes collaborations between researchers from various disciplines and different schools, and it allows people from business, industry and government to begin dialogues with us about cooperative ventures. Our goal is to find applications for our academic research that will be valuable to our region and state."
Larry Mattix, associate dean for sciences and technology at Norfolk State, William Wasilenko, associate dean for research at EVMS, and Lawrence Dotolo, president of the Virginia Tidewater Consortium, are also key members of the event's steering committee.