EES Guest Speaker - Dr. Gregory Dick

This week’s seminar speaker is Dr. Gregory Dick.  Please join us Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 3pm in room 351 Nat Sci.

Talk title: Cyanobacterial blooms: a growing threat to Great Lakes water and human health

In our world of dwindling water supplies, toxic cyanobacterial blooms are a serious and growing threat to precious water resources. Blooms of cyanobacteria – photosynthetic bacteria that can produce lethal toxins – are proliferating due to agricultural runoff and climate change. This talk will describe the causes and consequences of cyanobacterial blooms along with strategies to deal with them. Recent research emphasizing the important role of nitrogen in shaping bloom toxicity and our emerging understanding of the diversity of cyanobacterial toxins and their effects on human health will be discussed. Opportunities for collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, a regional consortium of universities, companies, and non-profits organizations sponsored by NOAA, will also be highlighted.