On Tuesday, March 5, CNAS presents the first lecture in its annual Science Lecture Series. Since its inception in 2009, the series has brought CNAS scientists together to share their knowledge and research with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members.
Each topic in the series typically tackles some of the most vexing issues we face as a local, national, and global community. From climate science to sub-atomic particles to supporting sustainable agriculture and water management practices, the 2024 Science Lecture Series covers many bases.
The Science Lecture Series is free and open to the public, but registration for each lecture is required.*
The series, which occurs across three Tuesdays in successive months, kicks off on Tuesday, March 5 at UCR Palm Desert Center in Palm Desert, CA with a talk entitled “The Escalating Climate Catastrophe” by Robert J. Allen, Full Professor of Climatology at UC Riverside. Since the dawn of the industrial age, planet Earth has warmed, with recent warming that is widespread, rapid and intensifying. The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred in the last decade. Last year was the hottest year by far at 1.34°C to 1.48°C warmer than the preindustrial average and among the warmest years in at least 100,000 years. At present rates of greenhouse gas emissions, it will only be a few years before the 2015 Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal is surpassed. In his discussion, Dr. Allen will posit how and why our climate is changing and what we need to do to avert the looming climate catastrophe.
The series continues on Tuesday, April 30th at UC Riverside’s University Theater with Nobel Laureate and National Medal of Science winner Barry Barish, Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy. Professor was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2017 along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.”
The final lecture will be held Tuesday, May 14 at the UCR Palm Desert Center in Palm Desert, CA. Dr. Elia Scudiero, Research Agronomist Environmental Sciences, will address the topic “From Dirt to Data:
Precision Insights for Sustainable Agricultural Systems.” Water scarcity and environmental degradation associated with intensive agriculture are threatening the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of food production in water-scarce farmlands both in the U.S. and globally. Although limited, water resources in California and many other American farmlands are often used inefficiently. Therefore, long-term improvements to current irrigation practices must be made to help sustain agricultural systems. The good news is that short-scale changes in soil properties often result in remarkable crop yield variability. But geophysical measurements and GIS-based models to characterize trends and drivers of soil variability are needed for informed agricultural and natural resource management. Dr. Scudiero’s lecture will feature research on the use of field measurements, near-ground and remote sensing, and spatiotemporal multi-scale (field to the regional scale) data analysis.
*A free shuttle bus is available for UCR students, faculty and staff to and from the main UCR campus to the lectures held at UCR Palm Desert Center; however space on the bus is limited.
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