Unless otherwise noted, events are 5:30pm-7:00pm Thursdays in BSS 166

Greg Davis

September 6

“Curiosity and Beyond: Exciting Developments in NASA’s Unmanned Space Program”
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There have been many exciting developments in NASA’s unmanned space program recently, the most recent of which being Curiosity’s impressive Martian landing on August 5, 2012. In this seminar, Dr. Davis will share the latest news regarding Curiosity’s nascent explorations, as well as recount highlights from over the last 24 months of the two planetary encounters and five new missions that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, NASA’s lead center for unmanned robotic exploration of the solar system and beyond has managed. This talk will provide an overview of the key science, engineering, and technology features of these exciting missions, and conclude with some of the speaker’s perspectives on future directions in space exploration.

Dr. Davis has worked for the past 23 years as a member of the technical staff at JPL, where he is currently the Chief Technologist for the Mechanical Systems Division. Greg has also been a Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Caltech for the past six years. Most recently, he served as chair for the many payload reviews on Juno, now on its journey to Jupiter after being launched in August 2011. Greg was also the mechanical systems engineer for cruise, entry, descent and landing on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project, where—among other things—he was responsible for developing an end-to-end mechanical verification program for the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers. Prior to MER, Greg supported several planetary spacecraft programs at JPL including Mars Pathfinder, for which he received a NASA Honor Award for Exceptional Engineering Achievement, ST4/Champollion, and NSCAT. He is also the recipient of three Group Achievement NASA Honor Awards. Before arriving at JPL, Greg worked as an exploration geophysicist in Houston, Texas and as a physics teacher in Stow, Ohio, both for five years. Greg holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University, B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from the University of Akron, and just received his EMBA from the Drucker School of Business at Claremont Graduate University in May 2012.

Matthew Marshall and Jim Zoellick

September 20

“RePowering Humboldt: A Strategic Plan to Scale Up Renewable Energy Use in Humboldt County”
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Humboldt County has the opportunity to satisfy the majority of its energy needs using local renewable resources. This can be accomplished by aggressively implementing energy efficiency, utilizing abundant biomass, wind, wave and small hydro energy resources, and electrifying the transportation and heating sectors. The Redwood Coast Energy Authority and the Schatz Energy Research Center are developing a strategic energy plan that can lead the county toward a sustainable, low-carbon energy future. Matthew and Jim will discuss their community energy planning work and engage the audience in a dialog about the path forward.

Matthew Marshall is the Executive Director of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority. Over the last 12 years Matthew has been involved in a variety of energy and sustainable development planning, policy, and implementation endeavors. Most recently, Matthew served as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program Administrator for the City and County of Denver, where he was responsible for developing and managing greenhouse gas reduction projects and community partnerships in support of Denver’s Climate Action Plan. A graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt, Matthew’s work on innovative sustainable energy efforts has been recognized and honored by the National Hydrogen Association, the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Hydrogen Business Council, the American Lung Association, and the United States Congress.

Jim Zoellick is a Senior Research Engineer at the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt. Jim has worked in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency for the last 22 years. Currently he is conducting planning studies for renewable energy development and electric vehicle deployment in northern California communities.

Andrea Tuttle

October 4

“What Next for AB32? California’s Efforts to Implement the Global Warming Solutions Act”
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Andrea Tuttle is a former Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and is now a consultant in forest and climate policy. She has attended the past 5 COPs (Conference of the Parties) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and will again be an Observer at this year’s COP in Doha, Qatar. She especially tracks the mechanism known as REDD+ (REDD plus) aimed at reducing emissions from loss of tropical forests. Andrea is also a Board Member for The Pacific Forest Trust, a think-tank NGO that helped pioneer the California Forest Protocols, and has kept thousands of acres of privately-owned forestland in sustainable production and prevented conversion to non-forest uses.

In the distant past Andrea taught Natural Resources at Cal Poly Humboldt and has served on the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Coastal Commission. Her Ph.D. is in Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley. Andrea is a strong advocate for retaining working forestlands for their climate benefits and their environmental, economic, and social values.

Corey Johnson

October 11

“Geopolitics of Overconsumption”
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Corey Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Corey’s research and teaching areas include the political geography of Europe and Eurasia, borders and border security, natural resources and energy geopolitics, and Germany. In 2011-12 he was the Joachim Herz Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, DC, where he worked on a international collaborative report entitled “The Global Resource Nexus: The Struggles for Land, Energy, Food, Water, and Minerals.” Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Corey holds a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Oregon and a B.A. in geography (honors) and German from the University of Kansas.

Miguel Altieri

October 25

“Who Will Feed Us in a Planet in Crisis?”
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Dr. Miguel A . Altieri is a professor of agroecology in the Department of Environmental Science, Management and Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Altieri has served as a Scientific Advisor to the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES) Chile, an NGO network promoting agroecology as a strategy for small farm sustainable development in the region, and as the General Coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Agriculture Networking and Extension Programme which aimed at capacity building on agroecology among NGOs and the scaling-up of successful local sustainable agricultural initiatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In addition, he was the chairman of the NGO committee of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research whose mission was to make sure that the research agenda of the 15 International Agricultural Research Centers benefited the poor farmers of the world. Currently, he is advisor to the FAO-GIAHS program (Globally Indigenous Agricultural Heritage Systems), a program devoted at identifying and dynamically conserving traditional farming systems in the developing world. He is the author of more than 200 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems, and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.

Anthony Eggert

November 1

“California’s Clean Energy Future: Policies and Politics”
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Anthony Eggert is the executive director of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy, which is dedicated to leveraging University of California expertise to inform better policy.

From 2007 through 2012, Anthony served as an appointee of Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger in several senior policy positions including science and technology policy advisor to the chair of the Air Resources Board, commissioner for the California Energy Commission, and deputy secretary for energy policy of the California Environmental Protection Agency overseeing clean energy and environmental policy development for California.

Prior positions include advising the University of California on federal energy and climate policy, directing research on low-carbon fuels and vehicles at UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies, and as an engineer and then manager for Ford Motor Company. Anthony serves on the boards of the Alliance to Save Energy, the UC Energy Institute at Haas, the UC Transportation Sustainability Research Center, and is a technical advisor to the US Department of Energy.

Anthony received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison and master of science degree in transportation technology and policy at UC Davis.

Mark Baker

November 29

“Neoliberalism and the Environment: The Case of Small Hydropower Development in the Western Himalaya”
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Mark Baker is Associate Professor in the Politics Department and Coordinator of the Environment and Community M.A. in Social Science Program at Cal Poly Humboldt. He recently conducted six months of field research on small hydropower development in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, funded by an American Institute of Indian Studies research fellowship.