Hydraulic Fracturing: Potential Impacts on Drinking Water – Stephen Osborn

Thursday, February 23, 2012, 7:00 PM @ Sun Room, Memorial Union  - Stephen Osborn is a hydrogeologist with an expertise in natural gas geochemistry and water quality issues specific to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. He was the lead author on a recent study at Duke University that shows methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction in northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Osborn is currently an assistant professor in the Geology Department at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. He has also worked as a consultant, conducting hydrogeologic and environmental investigations in the northeastern and southwestern United States. Osborn holds a Master’s degree in soil science from the University of California at Riverside and in geology from Georgia State University. He earned his PhD from the University of Arizona.

Energy Sustainability in a Changing World – BP Chief Scientist Ellen D. Williams

Monday, February 27, 2012, 8:00 PM @ Great Hall, Memorial Union  - Ellen Williams to serves as Chief Scientist at British/Beyond Petroleum. BP is the third largest oil company and the fifth largest corporation on the planet, and as BPπs Chief Scientist Ellen plays a role in determining how developments in science and technology can contribute to sustainable, secure and environmentally responsible energy. She will discuss specific examples of carbon capture and storage, as well as biofuels.  She is on leave from the University of Maryland where she is Distinguished University Professor of Physics and director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.