The University of Connecticut’s Coastal Perspectives Lecture Series begins Feb. 2. The series, hosted by UConn’s  Department of Marine Sciences, is held annually during the spring semester and is free and open to the public.

Lectures will be held on alternate Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at the Avery Point Campus, in room 103 of the Marine Sciences Building. Coffee and light refreshments will be available at 7 p.m.

The series is sponsored by UConn’s major in Coastal Studies and Connecticut Sea Grant.

This year’s schedule:

Feb. 2 “Beluga Whales, The Arctic, and Climate Change”
Tracy Romano, senior vice president of research and zoological operations at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration

Feb. 16 “Scientists and Sailors: SUBMARINE NR-1’s Scientific Contributions”
Commander John McGrath, officer in charge of Submarine NR-1

March 2 “In The Same Net: The Ocean and Us”
Carl Safina, founder of the Blue Ocean Institute and adjunct professor at Stony Brook University

March 16 “Ocean: Our Water, Our World”
Deborah Cramer, author and visiting scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initiative

March 30 “Film, Oceans, and Social Change”
Jennifer Galvin, scientist, educator, entrepreneur, and global health and environmental filmmaker with Reelblue LLC

*April 13 “Staying Dry and Paying for It: Symposium on the Costs of Coastal Living in a Changing Climate”
Moderator: W. Frank Bohlen, professor, UConn Department of Marine Sciences
Panelists:  E. Zell Steever,  chairman, Town of Groton Task Force on Climate Change
Todd Fake, research sssociate, UConn Department of Marine Sciences
James Edson, sssociate professor, UConn Department of Marine Sciences
Thomas Sullivan, commissioner, State of Connecticut Department of Insurance
*Symposium/panel to be held in Branford House

For more information:

Lisa Hastings, 860-405-9262

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