Climate Change Expert to Speak at Baylor

Dr. Lonnie Thompson, senior research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center at the University of Ohio, will present a lecture on the danger posed by climate change and the human response to it at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, in room D110 of the Baylor Sciences Building on the Baylor University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture, "Global Climate Change: A Paleoclimate Perspective from the World's Highest Mountains," will explore how the rapid retreat of mountain glaciers is not only contributing to the global rise in sea levels, but also threatening fresh water supplies in many of the world's most populous regions.

Thompson is one of the world's foremost authorities on paleoclimatology and glaciology. He has led more than 50 expeditions during the last 30 years, conducting ice-core drilling programs in the world's polar regions, including tropical and subtropical ice fields.

His research has resulted in major revisions in the field of paleoclimatology. He has been selected by Time magazine and CNN as one of "America's Best" in science and medicine, and his articles have been published in hundreds of publications, including National Geographic. Thompson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005, and was awarded the John and Alice Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

The lecture is sponsored by Baylor's geology department, College of Arts and Sciences, and the office of vice provost for research.

For more information, call (254) 710-3361.