Published: Oct. 27, 2015
On Thursday, Oct. 29, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Fellow and Professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering Diane McKnight will present, “The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Ecosystems waiting for water” as part of the 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer series.
 
The Distinguished Research Lectureship is among the highest honors bestowed by the faculty upon a faculty member at CU-Boulder. The lectureship honors a tenured faculty member widely recognized for a distinguished body of academic or creative achievement and prominence, as well as contributions to the educational and service missions of CU-Boulder. 
 
McKnight is Director of the Center for Water, Earth Science and Technology, and Co-director of the Hydrologic Sciences Graduate program. Her research focuses on the biogeochemistry of natural organic material and trace metals in streams and lakes, and the consequences for water supplies. She has conducted research on stream ecosystems as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM-LTER) project and on alpine lakes and acid mine drainage streams in the Rocky Mountains.
 
She has been President of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and editor of Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012 and was awarded the John Dalton Medal from the European Geophysical Union in 2015.
 
Lecture to be held Thursday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. in University Memorial Center room 235.