*************SOLD OUT*************

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE 2019 DISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES, UNFORTUNATELY THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE WAITING LIST, PLEASE EMAIL RACHEL MITCHELL AT: RMITCHELL@EDWARDSAQUIFER.ORG. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Dr. Annette Summers Engel obtained her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2004, after receiving a M.S. degree in biological sciences in 1999 and a M.S. degree in geology in 1997, both from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a B.A. in geology from Wittenberg University in 1995. She was an assistant and associate professor of geomicrobiology at Louisiana State University prior to becoming the Donald H. Jones Professor of Aqueous Geochemistry at the University of Tennessee in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in 2011.  Her research interests today investigate how geological, geochemical, and environmental (including anthropogenic) conditions control the distribution of life in the landscape. Her projects span a range of topics from cave science to marine science. Dr. Engel has been an avid caver since her childhood, and she has conducted research in many cave and karst regions in the United States, Europe, Central & South America, and China. The focus of her karst research has been on systems influenced by sulfidic waters and formed from sulfuric acid speleogenesis, and now her research involves investigating the biological diversity of caves in the Appalachians and examining the food web dynamics and biodiversity of Hawaiian lava tubes. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers and edited five books, as well as published many book chapters, proceedings, white papers, and other scientific material. As a professor, she has supervised 18 graduate students and dozens of undergraduate students, as well as research staff and postdocs. She is currently a Board Member of the Cave Conservancy of Hawai’i and the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias, and is chair of the student scholarship committee for the Cave Conservancy Foundation. She also serves as the secretary for the International Society for Environmental Biogeochemistry, and is on the International Advisory Committee for this organization and the International Society for Subsurface Microbiology. Dr. Engel has been honored for her research and scholarship, and is a past recipient of the James G. Mitchell award and Science award from the National Speleological Society, a recipient of a Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation award, and is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society, Geological Society of America, and the Explorers Club.

Topics to be Covered:

Carbon in Karst

Geochemical Interfaces

Microbial Diversity of Caves and Karst

Subterranean Fauna (& finding unicorns) – case studies from aquifers, karst, & lava tubes

Motivation for, and consequences of, exploration

Professional Ethics of Explorers as Educators & Scientists