The Symposium began the 2019-2020 series with the lecture "What's in Your Water, Iowa?" with speaker E. Britt Moore on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. Moore is a former high school science teacher and agricultural extension and outreach specialist. He is a Ph.D. student at Iowa State University where he studies soils and sustainable agriculture and conducts research on water use efficiency, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation. Moore also works with youth to promote soil science and agriculture.  He has also guest lectured at MCC.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uR49Z5-yhnuc7t0rPTrukN1nr4EWYqGRMYdA6FXZaPk/edit?usp=sharing

The second lecture of the Shear Colbert Symposium “Our Changing Climate: Directions & Choices” was given by Dr. William Gutowski on February 12, 2020.  Gutowski is Professor of Meteorology at Iowa State University and a member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Prof. Gutowski reviewed the ways our climate is changing and the impacts of these changes, especially in Iowa.  He discussed the different pathways for climate change the Earth might follow in the future, highlighting the choices in front of us for determining how the Earth’s climate will evolve.

Prof. Gutowski has served on national and international programs, such as the World Meteorological Organization’s World Climate Research Programme, that have guided the course of climate research.  His work has had special focus on changing climate in regions of the world such as Africa, the Arctic and the U.S. His research on climate change has earned Gutowski global recognition. He has also co-authored reports on climate for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.  He received his Ph.D. in Meteorology from M.I.T. in 1984.  He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

LInk to the presentation: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WFzPJE6yEs&t=306s