Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Sciences: Water to be held in Holderness, NH on June 22-27, 2014

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

CBET-1346372 Paul Tratnyek Gordon Research This project supports the Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Sciences: Water to be held June 22-27, 2014. This year, the unifying theme will be Environmental Sciences in a Human-Impacted World. The conference will bring together participants in an informal setting, for a program of plenary talks by established and emerging scientists to discuss frontier aquatic sciences research that explores how human alterations of the environment influence critical processes from the molecular to the landscape scale. The scope will span multiple disciplines (chemistry, biology, geology, engineering, health science), media (soil, groundwater, surface water, atmospheric water, drinking water, wastewater), and scales (molecular, nano, cellular, ecosystem, global). Session topics will examine contaminant fates, redox transitions, aquatic organic matter, consumptive water use, treatment and release, advanced analytical and computational tools, human and ecosystem health, and science communication. These formal sessions will be complemented by poster sessions that integrate scientists at all career stages, including graduate and post-doctoral researchers, in scientific discussions. Together, the organizational format of this conference will advance the overall goal of facilitating more effective communication and integration of ideas between scientific disciplines and will contribute to the identification of new approaches for solving important problems affecting water quality. The provision of clean water for all uses requires integrated solutions drawn from multiple disciplines in a broader framework of environmental policy. The conference advances discovery while promoting teaching, training, and learning by offering a platform for graduate student and postdoctoral researchers to present their research and participate fully in the conference activities. The conference format provides and unusual and ideal means for the dissemination of research results, through close interaction of participants from industry, government laboratories, and academia. Finally, the conference promotes broad participation from a diverse background, both through the speaker selection and through special GRC funding mechanisms that target underrepresented groups.