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Environmental Sciences: Water

Gordon Research Conference

Grand Challenge Frontiers in the Aquatic Environmental Sciences

June 24 - 29, 2012
Chair David L. Sedlak
Vice Chair Paul G. Tratnyek
Holderness School
33 Chapel Lane
Holderness, New Hampshire, United States
 Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The 2012 Gordon Research Conference on "Environmental Sciences: Water" will continue its long tradition of surveying priority and emerging issues across all aspects of aquatic environmental science. The scope will span multiple disciplines (chemistry, biology, geology, engineering, health science), media (soil, groundwater, surface water, atmospheric water, drinking water, wastewater), and scales (molecular, nano, cellular, ecosystem, global). This year, the unifying theme will be the scientific "grand challenges" that form the foundations and, at the same time, the frontiers of aquatic environmental science. These grand challenges, which include topics related to free radical reactions, natural organic matter, nanoparticles, biotransformation, reactive transport and surface chemistry, will provide the general themes for each session. Overall, the program will highlight the crosscutting significance of these grand challenges through sessions that represent the depth and breadth of each grand challenge issue with speakers engaged in innovative and significant research on diverse aspects to environmental aquatic science.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Environmental Sciences: Water" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

SUNDAY
2:00 pm - 9:00 pmArrival and Check-in (Office Closed 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm)
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmWelcome / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
7:40 pm - 9:30 pmHuman Impact on Global Biogeochemical Cycles: Thresholds or progressive impact?
7:40 pm - 7:50 pmDiscussion Leader: William Schlesinger (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY)
7:50 pm - 8:30 pmJames Gallaway (University of Virginia)
"Nitrogen: Pushing the Limits"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pmDiscussion
8:40 pm - 9:20 pmScott Doney (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)
"Ocean Acidification: the Other CO2 Problem"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
MONDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:30 amGroup Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pmBiotransformation and Biocatalysis
9:00 am - 9:10 amDiscussion Leader: Larry Wackett (University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN)
9:10 am - 9:50 amDamian Helbling (EAWAG)
"From SBRs to metagenomics: seeking tools to predict biotransformation pathways of organic micropollutants"
9:50 am - 10:05 amDiscussion
10:05 am - 10:35 amCoffee Break
10:35 am - 11:15 amDick B. Janssen (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
"Microbial Dehalogenation for Toxic Waste and Chiral Products"
11:15 am - 11:30 amDiscussion
11:30 am - 12:10 pmRebecca Parales (University of California, Davis, CA)
"Bacterial Sensing and Degradation of Nitrotoluenes"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session I
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmCrisis-Driven Science
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmDiscussion Leader: Jerry Schnoor (University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA)
7:40 pm - 8:20 pmElizabeth Kujawinski (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA)
"Characterization of Environmental Organic Matter: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pmDiscussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pmKelvin Gregory (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA)
"Development of Black Shale Gas and Oil Resources: Water Management Challenges and Microbiology"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
TUESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmRedox and Radical Processes
9:00 am - 9:10 amDiscussion Leader: David Waite (University of New South Wales, Australia)
9:10 am - 9:50 amJaehong Kim (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA)
"Manipulating Light for Environmental Applications"
9:50 am - 10:05 amDiscussion
10:05 am - 10:35 amCoffee Break
10:35 am - 11:15 amMichael Sander (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland)
"Assessing Redox Processes involving Natural Organic Matter: the Last Chapter (?) of a Never-ending Story"
11:15 am - 11:30 amDiscussion
11:30 am - 12:10 pmChad Vecitis (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)
"Electrochemical Filtration for Advanced Water Treatment"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session II
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmToxicity, Exposure, Risk
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmDiscussion Leader: Nancy Denslow (University of Florida)
7:40 pm - 8:20 pmApril Gu (Northeastern University, Boston, MA)
"Merging Toxicology and Genomics with Water Science-Toxicogenomics-enabled Technology Platform For Water Toxicity Assessment and Monitoring"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pmDiscussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pmRoman Ashauer (EAWAG, Dubendorf, Switzerland)
"Toxicokinetic-Toxicodynamic Models at the Core of Ecotoxicology - Chemistry Meets Biodiversity"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
WEDNESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmMicrobial Community Structure and Function
9:00 am - 9:10 amDiscussion Leader: Craig Criddle (Stanford University, Stanford, CA)
9:10 am - 9:50 amKatherine McMahon (University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI)
"Eco-Systems Biology of Phosphorus Accumulating Bacteria in Activated Sludge"
9:50 am - 10:05 amDiscussion
10:05 am - 10:35 amCoffee Break
10:35 am - 11:15 amSusann Muller (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany)
"Cytometric Structure Analytics - Using DNA Patterns for Evaluation and Prediction of Natural Microbial Community Behavior"
11:15 am - 11:30 amDiscussion
11:30 am - 12:10 pmLudmilla Chistoserdova (University of Washington, Seattle, WA)
"Functional Microbial Communities in Freshwater Lakes: from Omics Approaches to Single Organism Physiology"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session III
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 - 9:30 pmEmerging Contaminants
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmDiscussion Leader: Susan Richardson (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
7:40 pm - 8:20 pmBrian Mader (3M Environmental Laboratory, St. Paul, MN)
"Advances in the Removal of Perfluorochemicals from Water"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pmDiscussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pmJoel Pedersen (University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI)
"Prions: Environmental Contamination and Disease Transmission"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
THURSDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmColloids and Nanoparticles
9:00 am - 9:10 amDiscussion Leader: Menachem Elimelech (Yale University, New Haven, CT)
9:10 am - 9:50 amHeileen Hsu-Kim (Duke University)
"Is this Nano Stuff for Real?: Connecting Nanomaterials Research to Trace Element Geochemistry and Bioavailability"
9:50 am - 10:05 amDiscussion
10:05 am - 10:35 amCoffee Break
10:35 am - 11:15 amYoung-Shin Jun (Washington University, St. Louis, MO)
"Environmental Factors Controlling Nucleation, Growth, and Aggregation of Metal Oxides in Natural and Engineered Aquatic Systems"
11:15 am - 11:30 amDiscussion
11:30 am - 12:10 pmEric Hoek (University of California, Los Angeles, CA)
"Nanotechnology-based Membranes for Desalination and Advanced Water Treatment"
12:10 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmLifetime Achievement in Aquatic Sciences
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmDiscussion Leader: Phil Gschwend (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
7:40 pm - 8:20 pmRonald Hites (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)
"Persistent Organic Pollutants"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pmDiscussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pmStudent Poster Presentations
Three selected from the Student Poster Presentations
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
FRIDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDeparture

Contributors

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