You can watch most SERC-sponsored talks on SERC’s YouTube Channel, or via the direct links below. Videos of most presentations are also available to check-out from the Humboldt Library (index of available DVDs) or download viaHumboldt Digital Scholar.

Unless otherwise noted, events are 5:30pm-7:00pm Thursdays in Gist Hall 218

September 12

Alexander B. Murphy

“Understanding the Changing Planet: Geography’s Role in Addressing Environmental Challenges in the 21st Century”
Alexander B. Murphy is Professor of Geography at the University of Oregon, where he also holds the James F. and Shirley K. Rippey Chair in Liberal Arts and Sciences. He specializes in political, cultural, and environmental geography. Murphy is Senior Vice President of the American Geographical Society and a Past President of the Association of American Geographers. He recently chaired the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council Committee charged with identifying “Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences.” Murphy is the author of more than ninety articles and several books. He holds a bachelor’s degree in archaeology from Yale University, a law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, and a PhD in geography from the University of Chicago.

September 26

Philip Garone

“California Wetlands—Two Centuries of Loss and Recovery: Lessons from the Central Valley”
watch full presentation

Philip Garone is an Associate Professor of History at California State University Stanislaus. He holds a Ph.D. in History and an M.S. in Ecology from the University at California at Davis, and his research specialty is U.S. and California environmental history. He has published the first comprehensive environmental history of the Central Valley, The Fall and Rise of the Wetlands of California’s Great Central Valley (University of California Press, 2011). His current research focuses on the responses of public lands management agencies to climate change, and on a variety of Western water resource issues.

October 10

Nathan Hultman

“US Climate Policy and Prospects for a 2015 International Climate Agreement”
Nathan Hultman is Associate Professor and Director of the Environmental Policy Program at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He is also a Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Associate Director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Hultman’s research focuses on energy technology transitions in diverse development contexts; clean technology innovation; international climate policy; and private sector decisions to undertake low-carbon investments. He has participated in the UN climate process since the Kyoto meeting and is a contributing author to the IPCC. Before joining the University of Maryland, Dr. Hultman held a faculty appointment at Georgetown University and was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Institute for Science, Innovation, & Society. He holds a Ph.D. in Energy & Resources from the University of California, Berkeley.

October 24

Gwyn Kirk

“Environmental Security and National Security: Are They Compatible?”
watch full presentation

Gwyn Kirk is a scholar-activist concerned with gender, race, and environmental justice in the service of genuine security and a sustainable world. She has taught courses in women’s studies, environmental studies, political science, and sociology at a range of universities and colleges. With Margo Okazawa-Rey she publishes Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, used in classrooms nationwide. She has written widely on militarism, women’s peace organizing, and environmental security, and is compiling an anthology on environmental justice for undergraduate courses. She holds a PhD in political sociology from the London School of Economics.

November 20 – Native American Forum (BSS 162)

Erin Kelly

“Sustaining Rural Places: What Are We Sustaining?”
watch full presentation
Erin joined the Cal Poly Humboldt Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources in Fall 2012 as an Assistant Professor in forest policy, economics, and administration. She is interested in forest ownership and governance and rural community well-being. Recently, she has been exploring the impacts of policies like the California carbon market on forest practices. Her graduate work at Oregon State University included research on industrial forest restructuring, small-scale forest management, and emerging land tenures. Her post-doctoral work was in Western Newfoundland and focused on the changing forest industry in the province.

November 7

Ted Bilek

“An Outlook for Forest Products and Timber Markets: 2012-2030”
watch full presentation

Ted Bilek is a Midwesterner out of the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota. He has been with the USDA Forest Service at the Forest Products Laboratory for 13 years. Prior to this, Bilek spent 14 years in Christchurch, New Zealand on the faculty of the University of Canterbury School of Forestry. Bilek’s current research relates to economic and financial feasibility analysis. Additional research interests include modeling, data analysis, and forecasting.

November 14

Susan Handy

“Driving Less”
watch full presentation
Dr. Susan Handy is Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California Davis. Her research interests focus on the relationships between transportation and land use, particularly the impact of land development patterns on travel behavior. Her current work focuses on the choice to bicycle as a mode of transportation. She is a member of the Committee on Women’s Issues in Transportation of the Transportation Research Board and an associate editor of the Journal of Transport and Health.