George Liepa Sigma XI Speaker Series

The George Liepa Sigma Xi Annual Speaker Series Endowed Fund at Eastern Michigan University presents:

Dr. Jeremy Bassis, "A tale of two cities: Climate resilience and adaptation in a changing world."

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jeremy

 

Thursday, March 23, 2023, 7–8 p.m. in The Student Center Auditorium 

Information about this lecture: As climate change accelerates, there is growing concern that our cities and communities will be subject to environmental stresses beyond what they can exceed.  Sea level rise, combined with increased risk from extreme precipitation, hurricanes and other climate disasters, requires that communities urgently develop and implement adaptation plans.  The challenge is that many key physical processes that control climate evolution and sea level rise remain poorly understood, leading to a range of climate and sea level rise scenarios confounding many adaptation plans.  At the same time, communities face disparate vulnerabilities with lower income and marginalized communities already facing disproportionate risks associated with flooding with fewer resources to mitigate these disasters.  Addressing these risks requires that we link science, society and engineering to understand how the past can inform equitable adaptation and mitigation policies that are urgently needed.  I will talk about how the history, geography and geology affect past and future adaptation efforts with a focus on adaptation and mitigation efforts currently underway in the nearby midwestern city of Detroit, Michigan and the coastal city of Houston, Texas.  

About Dr. Bassis: "I did my undergraduate degree in Math and Physics.  I did my PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where I was trained as a geophysicist and oceanographer.  I then moved to the University of Chicago, driving from La Jolla California to Chicago in December.  I am now a professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan.  Most of my original work uses  a mixture of computational work, field work and satellite imagery to understand the fundamental processes and mechanisms by which ice sheets and glaciers respond to climate change.  Increasingly, my work has evolved to focus more on interdisciplinary approaches that integrate science into decision making to adapt to the changing climate."  

 

For more information please contact the Graduate School at 734.487.0042 or [email protected]. This event is free and open to the public.

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History

Dr. George Liepa
Dr. George Liepa

The George Liepa Sigma XI Speaker Series Endowed Fund was established in 2011 in memory of Dr. George Liepa [PDF]. George was an active campus member of Sigma Xi, a professor of human nutrition and a department head in the College of Health and Human Services.

When the Graduate Research Fair was created, it was his idea to have a science-related speaker present at the end of the day. George secured funding from Sigma Xi National to start the event and was a key figure in helping to select the annual speaker as well as marketing the event to EMU students, faculty and local high schools.

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Previous George Liepa Sigma Xi Speakers:

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