MBL Ecosystems Center to Celebrate 40th Anniversary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Diana Kenney, Marine Biological Laboratory 508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu  

MBL Ecosystems Center to Celebrate 40^th Anniversary

Keynote Speech by John P. Holdren,

Assistant to President Obama for Science and Technology,

 Will Kick off June 5-6 Event

Woods Hole, Mass. — The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) will commemorate the anniversary of its 1975 founding with a special symposium on June 5-6, 2015. The symposium and celebration, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Lillie Auditorium, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole. Parking is available in MBL's parking lots on North Street and Millfield Street.

The event will kick off with a keynote speech at 7:30 PM on Friday, June 5 by John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States. Holdren will address “Challenges and Opportunities in Ecosystem Science and Education: A View from the Obama White House.”

On Saturday morning, June 6, the celebration will feature invited talks on leading topics in ecosystem ecology and environmental science by people whose careers have been influenced by the Ecosystems Center. A complete schedule is here.

In the afternoon, distinguished environmental scientists William Schlesinger (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies), Jerry Melillo (MBL), Penny Chisholm (MIT) and Ian Foster (University of Chicago) will present ideas for future directions in ecosystem and global change science. Jim Metzner, host and producer of the radio program Pulse of the Planet, will moderate the discussion, which will include questions from the audience.

"Ecosystem science allows us to study an interconnected natural world and humans' growing influence on it," said Ecosystems Center Director Christopher Neill. "And for 40 years, the Ecosystems Center has shaped the way we think about ecosystems. This event will highlight the Center's scientific contributions but also look forward to how ecosystem science can address our most pressing environmental problems."

The MBL Ecosystems Center, founded by George M. Woodwell and former MBL Director James D. Ebert in 1975, was the nation’s first research center devoted exclusively to the study of ecosystems and global change. The Center's scientists study the consequences of major environmental changes on Earth, including the warming of the Arctic, the impacts of deforestation and land-use changes in the tropics, and the damage that excess nitrogen causes to coastal waters and salt marshes. Ecosystem Center scientists apply scientific knowledge to the solution of environmental problems in a variety of ways, including playing a leading role in the U.S. National Climate Assessment, briefing federal and state legislators and administrators, advising resource managers and non-governmental organizations, monitoring of coastal waters, and serving on committees responsible for formulating environmental policy and coordinating research.

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery and improving the human condition through research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.