Science on Tap to provide Indiana perspective on climate change

September 14, 2015  


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Jeffrey Dukes
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Professor Jeffrey Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center in Discovery Park, will headline the next Science on Tap with a talk on the science and significance of climate change within the context of the Hoosier state.

The talk, "An Indiana Perspective on Climate Change: The Science, Consequences and Solutions," is at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 in the upstairs of Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette. The event is free and open to anyone 21 or older.

Dukes, a professor of forestry and natural resources and biological sciences, will explore the latest climate change science, discuss how ecosystems affect climate, and explain predicted consequences of climate change for life in Indiana and elsewhere. He also will discuss how to slow climate change and prepare for the changes that will ensue.

"Climate change is in the headlines every week - last year was the hottest year ever recorded and July 2015 was the hottest month. So why is the climate changing, how do we know and what will be the consequences in Indiana and around the world?" said Dukes, a Purdue faculty member since 2008.

Sponsors for Dukes' Science on Tap talk are the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, the departments of Forestry and Natural Resources and Biological Sciences, College of Science and Discovery Park.

Dukes was selected to lead the Purdue Climate Change Research Center last October, guiding Purdue's interdisciplinary effort focusing on research and education in global climate change. In his research, Dukes has a particular interest in understanding how changes in climate and the atmosphere will affect the success and impact of invasive species.

He also leads the INTERFACE research coordination network, which brings together experimentalists and modelers from around the world to advance global environmental change research. In addition, Dukes directs the Boston-Area Climate Experiment, which characterizes ecosystem responses to gradients of climate change.

Before coming to Purdue, he served as a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he still holds an adjunct appointment. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from Brown University and his doctoral degree in biological sciences at Stanford University.

Fifty-four Purdue faculty members and research staff are collaborating in the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, which was established in 2004 to support and promote research and education on global climate change and to examine its impact on agriculture, natural ecosystems and society. The center has generated more than $20 million in research funding since its inception.

The center is part of Discovery Park's Global Sustainability Institute, which coordinates Purdue's research efforts in sustainability challenges such as climate change, energy, food security, the environment and water. In addition to the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, GSI includes the Center for the Environment, Energy Center, Purdue Water Community and the Purdue Center for Global Food Security.

Science on Tap, led by graduate students Nelda Vazquez, Andrew Hesselbrock and Paula Cooper, provides Purdue faculty and collaborating researchers the opportunity to share research activities in an informal setting with presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience. The event has averaged 80 attendees per talk during the program's first four years.

Writers: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Anna Schultz, 765-494-4719, schult70@purdue.edu

Source: Jeffrey Dukes, 765-494-1446, jsdukes@purdue.edu

Nelda Vazquez, 765-496-1487, nvazque@purdue.edu

Andrew Hesselbrock, ahesselb@purdue.edu

Paula Cooper, porourk@purdue.edu  

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