[130] Docs Discuss Rocks and More During Earth Science Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 5, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

DOCS DISCUSS ROCKS AND MORE DURING EARTH SCIENCE WEEK
MTSU Activities Include Water Testing, Mineral Museum, Climate Change Lecture

(MURFREESBORO) – MTSU’s Department of Geosciences will sponsor the campus celebration of Earth Science Week with a diverse array of activities that are free and open to the public Oct. 12-16.
Earth Science Week is an annual international event sponsored by the American Geological Institute. This year’s theme is “Understanding Climate.”
Undergraduate geosciences students will provide free geochemical analyses of drinking water for the campus community. Participants can pick up sample vials in Room 325 of the Kirksey Old Main (KOM) building, fill the vials with water and take them to the Forrest Hall Annex at one of the following times:
Monday, Oct. 12, from 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 14, from 8 a.m.-10 a.m.
Thursday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 16, from 8 a.m.-10 a.m.
Dr. Mark Abolins will host a hands-on event titled “Understanding the Environment with GPS (Global Positioning System) and Satellite Images” on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Interested persons should meet at 9:10 a.m. in KOM Room 308 and be prepared to go outside to use GPS on campus.
The MTSU Mineral, Gem and Fossil Museum, located in Room 119 of Ezell Hall, will open its doors from 11:15 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Dr. Melissa Lobegeier and Heather Volker, both geosciences faculty members, will present “Geoscience as Green Science” at 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in KOM Room 452.
Capping the week’s events will be a discussion by Dr. Jonathan Gilligan, a Vanderbilt University environmental policy expert, at 1:50 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, in KOM Room 452. A graduate of Yale and Swarthmore, Gilligan will describe the scientific and human impact of climate change while also drawing on his own research on policy measures to abate greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information, contact Abolins at 615-594-4210 or mabolins@mtsu.edu.


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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.