Land, Water Connections Topic of Geddes W. Simpson Lecture

Grace S. Brush, a Johns Hopkins University professor of geography and environmental engineering, will deliver the 12th annual Geddes W. Simpson Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at Buchanan Alumni House at the University of Maine.

“A Paleoecological Record of Long-Term Connections Between Land and Water” is the title of Brush’s free public lecture in the McIntire Room. For more information, or to make disability accommodations, contact Michelle Cormier at michelle.m.cormier@maine.edu.

Brush has conducted pioneering studies on plant pollen and microscopic organisms in sediment. Her findings have furthered understanding about how and when humans first cleared East Coast forests and how resulting changes in sediment loads and water chemistry modified estuarine ecosystems.

Jeffery Mills, University of Maine Foundation president, will welcome guests. Sean Smith, UMaine assistant professor with a joint appointment with Maine Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI) and UMaine’s School of Earth and Climate Sciences, will introduce Brush. In 2001, family and friends of distinguished UMaine researcher and professor Geddes W. Simpson established the lecture series at the University of Maine Foundation in his honor. Individuals who deliver lectures have provided significant insight into areas where science and history intersect.