Geology Group's Executive
Director To Speak At WKU Event
May 29, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - The executive director of the Geological Society of America will be a keynote speaker at next week's International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems at Western Kentucky University.
Dr. Jack Hess will speak at the conference's closing banquet at 7 p.m. June 6 at WKU's South Campus. The GSA is the world's largest geological organization with more than 16,000 members in 85 countries.
"Dr. Hess will discuss the role of international karst research in answering broader scientific questions," said Dr. Chris Groves, director of WKU's Hoffman Environmental Research Institute and conference coordinator.
"His visit really shows the national and international attention Western is getting as a karst research facility," Dr. Groves said.
Western, along with the National Park Service and the Cave Research Foundation, is hosting the June 3-6 conference. Scientific presentations will be conducted at the WKU South Campus with field trips at Mammoth Cave National Park and other sites.
"Dr. Hess, a well-known geologist with a longtime interest in karst, conducted doctoral research at Mammoth Cave in the 1970s," Dr. Groves said, adding that "he laid a significant component of the groundwork for the research that continues today at Mammoth Cave."
Before taking over as the GSA's executive director in December 2001, Dr. Hess was a legislative fellow in Sen. Harry Reid's office in Washington, D.C., where he worked on radioactive waste, water, global climate change, renewable energy and other science and technology related issues.
Dr. Hess, who received his doctorate in geology in 1974 from Penn State, also has held leadership roles with the Desert Research Institute in Nevada. He is a longtime member of GSA and has been active in the Hydrogeology Division, including being chairman from 1995-1996.
Dr. David Keeling, head of the Geography and Geology Department, said visits to Western by such distinguished scientists as Dr. Hess are "vital to the intellectual growth of our students and programs, as they offer tangible evidence of how students can contribute to the social and economic development of our society."
"Our students will benefit from the expertise provided by Dr. Hess and they will hear first-hand how applied research can contribute to solving human-environment problems at a variety of geographic scales," Dr. Keeling said.
More information on the conference is available online at http://karst.wku.edu/2003/
For more information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-4169. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
