EES Distinguished Speaker Series - Fall 2025
The Distinguised Speaker Series is the Department of
Earth and Environmental Sciences Weekly Seminar
Meets* on Thursdays at 3:00 PM, Room NS 351
*unless noted otherwise
| Date | Speaker | Affiliation | Title | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 4 | M. Bayani Cardenas | University of Texas at Austin | Insights on groundwater renewability from age and residence time analysis | Jay Zarnetske |
| September 18 | Deric R. Learman | Central Michigan University | Using metagenomics to study the breakdown of organic contaminants | Megan Elwood Madden |
| September 25 | Kaitlyn Trestrail '13 and MS '16 | GHD — An Engineering, Architecture & Construction Services Company | From Outcrop to Outlook: Navigating Geoscience Consulting Careers | Tyrone Rooney |
| October 2 | David Zakharov | Western Michigan University | Water-rock reactions as an archive of Earth’s surface conditions | Tyrone Rooney |
| October 16 | Sara Pearson | Michigan Geological Survey | The Best-Kept Secret Beneath Our Feet: Why a Geoscience Career Rocks | Anthony Kendall |
| October 23 | Chris Svoboda '15 and PhD '22 and Sahira Cancel Vázquez MS '22 | Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) | Legal EGLE: An Alumni Perspective on Life After Academia as Michigan Regulators | Tyrone Rooney |
| November 6 | James Schiffbauer | University of Missouri | Death, decay, and reconstruction: Tracing the history of animals and ecosystems through the lens of preservation | Katie Maloney |
| November 13 | Gregory Dick | University of Michigan | TBD | Dalton Hardisty |
| November 20 | Jin Zhang | Texas A&M University | Davemaoite: the ultimate solution for lower mantle heterogeneities? | Susannah Dorfman |
| December 4 | Lars Hansen | University of Minnesota | TBD | Shawn Wei |
EES Graduate Student PhD Dissertation and MS Thesis Defenses
| Date | Student | Event | Title | Time and Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 7 | Noah Bohl | MS Thesis Defense | Predicting Warming in a Groundwater Dominated Cold Water Stream Network | 2:15 PM at Natural Sciences Building (NS) Rm 140 |
MSU Seminars of Possible Interest to Earth and Environmental Sciences Department Staff and Students
| Date | Speaker and Affiliation | Title | Host | Time and Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1 | Madison Brady, Michigan State University | The Masses and Compositions of Planets Around Nearby M Dwarfs | Astronomy Group Seminar | 1:30 PM at Biomedical and Physical Sciences (BPS) Rm 1400 |
| October 10 | Bianca Vienni-Baptista, ETH Zurich | Doing things differently: embedding transdisciplinary principles in net-zero climate modelling | 3:00 PM at South Kedzie Hall Rm 530 | |
| October 10 | Warren Wood, Michigan State University | Wrecking the rocks: The role of groundwater in global weathering | Quaternary Landscapes Research Group | 4:00 PM at Geology Building (GEO) Rm 126 |
| October 17 | Kurt Fausch, Colorado State University | Reverence for rivers: imagining an ethic for running waters | Department of Fisheries and Wildlife | 11:30 AM at Packaging Building Rm 100 |
| October 22 | Nan Liu, Boston University | Presolar grains as probes of type II supernova nucleosynthesis | FRIB Nuclear Science Seminar | 3:30 PM at Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Rm 1300 |
| October 24 | Anthony Kendall, Michigan State University | Michigan's dynamic hydrogeological (and stream geomorphic?) responses to varying Great Lakes levels | Quaternary Landscapes Research Group | 4:00 PM at Geology Building (GEO) Rm 126 |
| October 28 | Annette Rowe, Michigan State University | Eating Rocks! Microbes gaining electrons from minerals, electrodes and other microbes | MGI Promotion Seminar | 12:00 PM at Biomedical and Physical Sciences (BPS) Rm 1425 |
| October 29 | Michael Radica, University of Chicago | Exoplanets | Astronomy Group Seminar | 1:30 PM at Biomedical and Physical Sciences (BPS) Rm 1400 |
| November 5 | Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University | Making better decisions about sustainability | Stan and Toba Kaplowitz Distinguished Lecture Series | 3:00 PM at Kellogg Center Auditorium |
| November 7 | Alanna Post, Michigan State University | A forest in recovery: what drives the recovery of forest structure in the aftermath of the Chimney Tops 2 wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains? | Quaternary Landscapes Research Group | 4:00 PM at Geology Building (GEO) Rm 126 |
| December 12 | David Pruder and Randy Schaetzl, Michigan State University | The various sources for the thick loess in western Wisconsin | Quaternary Landscapes Research Group | 4:00 PM at Geology Building (GEO) Rm 126 |