Distinguished Water Lecture, 2019

Professor Joan B. Rose, PhD (NAE)
Michigan State University
2016 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate

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October 29, 2019 | 4:10 p.m.
Sinclair Auditorium
7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Lehigh University
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In this inaugural event of a new Lehigh lecture series, Dr. Joan B. Rose will present water as one of the most critical of all the world's life support systems. Water quantity and quality issues are interlinked with our global biohealth, supporting a sustainable plant, animal and human network. The lecture will discuss interplay of different variables in regard to water quality, water access and water management of various interconnected water resources with particular emphasis on contamination from human and animal sources. Advanced microbial detection techniques and their role in water management and water restoration will be presented.

Dr. Rose is an international authority on water microbiology, water quality, and public health safety, and co-directs both MSU's Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment (CAMRA) and its Center for Water Sciences (CWS). She and her team are developing new genetic analytics to study waterborne health threats. Water quality studies today tend to focus on the indicators of pathogens, but Dr. Rose targets actual threat agents such as viruses, mapping water quality and health risks in waterways throughout the world. A pioneer in the emerging science of viral metagenomics—sequencing virus DNA in water sources, discharges, and shipping ballast—using next-generation high-throughput technology. Such technology promises to significantly improve methods protect water and food supplies, and Joan and her team of "water detectives" are currently applying it to assess the safety of fresh produce. 

This Distinguished Lecture is free and open to the Lehigh campus community as well as interested members of the general public.

Organizing Committee:
David Anastasio, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Kristen Jellison, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mayuresh Kothare, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Arup Sengupta, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Chair)
Todd Watkins, Economics