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Environmental Sciences: Water

Gordon Research Conference

Future Challenges and Advances in Aquatic Sciences

June 22 - 27, 2008
Chair Deborah L. Swackhamer
Vice Chair William P. Ball
Holderness School
33 Chapel Lane
Holderness, New Hampshire, United States
 Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

This conference will focus on the ‘big issues’ surrounding aquatic sciences in the coming decades, and on the challenges and solutions to these issues. The conference will take a broader perspective rather than focus on just one or two issues, and will cover the continuum of basic through applied science and engineering. The presentations and discussion will emphasize aquatic processes and systems - physical, chemical, and biological - that are the underpinnings to understanding any one contaminant or issue. Sessions will include: (1) ‘core’ aquatic science topics, such as photochemistry, biotransformation processes, interfacial processes, and bioaccumulation; (2) topics of interest that interface with aquatic science, such as energy impacts on water quality and quantity, global climate change and its impact on water quality, international water issues, and contaminant cycles; (3) emerging issues in aquatic sciences, including the use of proteomics and genomics for source tracking and toxicity assessment, the use of sensor networks, new technologies for water treatment, and how to better forecast future contaminant problems; and (4) strategies for interfacing aquatic science research with environmental decision-making and policy.

Guiding Principles:

  • Encompass Breadth over Narrow Focus
  • Encompass Continuum of Basic to Applied Science
  • Emphasize Processes
  • Focus on the big issues of the future and their solutions

Program Elements:

Core Topics

  • Biotransformation chemistry: processes, impacts; latest on Hg
  • Photochemistry: NOM and beyond
  • Interfacial processes: biological-chemical interface, physical-chemical interface
  • Bioaccumulation, bioavailability, and (eco & human) exposures

Topics of interest that interface with aquatic sciences

  • Global climate change and its impacts on water quality and contaminant cycling
  • 'Water-Energy Nexus': impacts to water quality from new/renewable energy sources
  • Many-omics

"So What?"

  • Connect our science to policy and decision making

Emerging Issues

  • Fate and transport of emerging aquatic contaminants - getting ahead of the curve
  • Advanced sensor networks
  • New technologies for water treatment and supply

Conference Program

SUNDAY
2:00 pm - 11:00 pmArrival and Check-in
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmWelcome by Chair / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
7:30 pm - 8:35 pm CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER
Discussion Leader: Peter Liss (University of East Anglia, UK)
7:40 pm - 8:20 pm Linda Mortsch (Environment Canada)
"Climate Change: Implications for Water Quantity and Quality"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pm Discussion
8:35 pm - 9:30 pm LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN AQUATIC SCIENCES
Discussion Leader: Kimberley Jones (Howard University, USA)
8:35 pm - 9:15 pm Charles O’Melia (Johns Hopkins University, USA)
"Aquafaces and Aquasols"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
MONDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:45 amGroup Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT AND THE FATE OF WASTE-WATER DERIVED ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS
Discussion Leader: David Sedlak (University of California - Berkeley, USA)
9:00 am - 9:40 am Adriano Joss (EAWAG, Switzerland)
"Options for Micropollutant Removal from Municipal Wastewater"
9:40 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am Coffee Break
10:30 am - 11:10 am Edward Furlong (US Geological Survey)
"So Many Chemicals, So Little Time: Identifying the Important Emerging Contaminants"
11:10 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 12:10 pm Carsten Schmidt (RheinEnergie AG, Germany)
"Unintended Transformation Products of Organic Micropollutants: Why Water Pollution Control is of Vital Importance for Safe Drinking Water Production!"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm HYPOXIA IN COASTAL ZONES: ADVANCES IN RESEARCH
Discussion Leader: Rochelle Araujo (US Environmental Protection Agency)
7:30 pm - 8:10 pm Nancy Rabalais (Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, USA)
"Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia and Landscape Change: Corn and River Diversions"
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 9:10 pm Victor Bierman (Limno-Tech, Inc., USA)
"Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Landside Nutrient Loads and a Growing Sediment Legacy"
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
TUESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 11:30 am METAL SPECIATION MODELING AND BIOINORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Discussion Leader: Dominic DiToro (University of Delaware, USA)
9:00 am - 9:40 am Ed Tipping (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster, UK)
"Predicting Metal-NOM Interactions - How Good Can We Get?"
9:40 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am Coffee Break
10:30 am - 11:10 am Richard Carbonaro (Manhattan College, USA)
"Developing Modeling Approaches for Metals Risk Assessment"
11:10 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 12:30 pm LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN AQUATIC SCIENCES
11:30 am - 12:10 pm Francois Morel (Princeton University)
"Ocean Acidification: From Aquatic Chemistry to Biological Oceanography"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm SENSOR TECHNOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
Discussion Leader: Thomas Harmon (University of California - Merced, USA)
7:30 pm - 8:10 pm Paige Novak (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, USA)
"Sensor Networks for Urban Water Quality Monitoring"
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 9:10 pm Jerald Schnoor (University of Iowa, USA)
"The WATERS Network: Using Real-Time Sensors to Perform Environmental Research, Analysis, Prediction, and Forecasting"
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
WEDNESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm MANIPULATION OF WHOLE ECOSYSTEMS
Discussion Leader: Derek Muir (National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada)
9:00 am - 9:40 am Robert Hecky (University of Minnesota - Duluth, USA)
"Lake 227: Can a 40 Year (and still counting) Whole Lake Eutrophication Experiment Still Provide New Insights?"
9:40 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am Coffee Break
10:30 am - 11:10 am Cynthia Gilmour (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, USA)
"The METAALICUS Study: Seven Years of Stable Mercury Isotope Spikes to a Lake and its Watershed"
11:10 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Panel Discussion
"What are the Most Important Questions for Whole Lake Experimentation?"
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm NANOTECHNOLOGY AND IMPACTS ON AQUATIC SYSTEMS
Discussion Leader: Nora Savage (US Environmental Protection Agency)
7:30 pm - 8:10 pm Gregory Lowry (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
"Nanotechnology/Nanomaterials and the Environment: Tools for Sustainability or the Next PCB?"
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 9:10 pm Helen Nguyen (University of Illinois, USA)
"Virus as Nanoparticles: Interactions with Natural Organic Matter in Aquatic Systems"
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
THURSDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 11:30 am ADVANCES IN FATE AND TRANSPORT OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS
Discussion Leader: Anne Weisbrod (Proctor and Gamble, USA)
9:00 am - 9:40 am Jennifer Field (Oregon State University, USA)
"Illicit Drugs and Urinary Biomarkers in Raw Wastewater: a New Tool for Drug Epidemiology"
9:40 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am Coffee Break
10:30 am - 11:10 am Rainer Lohmann (University of Rhode Island)
"Sources, Fate and Transport of Persistent Organic Pollutants"
11:10 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 12:30 pm LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN AQUATIC SCIENCES
11:30 am - 12:10 pm Rene P. Schwarzenbach (ETH, Switzerland)
"Struggling with Complexity: the Joys and Tribulations of Environmental Organic Chemistry"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:00 pm - 7:30 pmBusiness Meeting
(Nominations for the next Vice Chair; Fill out Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss future Site & Scheduling preferences; Election of the next Vice Chair)
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Discussion Leader: William Ball (Johns Hopkins University, USA)
7:30 pm - 8:10 pm Bernard Amadei (University of Colorado, USA)
"Engineering Innovation and Research with a Human Face"
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm BEST POSTER PRESENTATIONS
8:30 pm - 9:10 pm Selected Poster Presentations
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
FRIDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDeparture

Conference Links

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