Coastal Perspective Lecture at Avery Point

“Ocean Plastics Pollution from Sources to Solutions”

By Dr. Kara Lavender Law, Sea Education Association

Dr. Kara Lavender Law is a Research Professor at Sea Education Association (Woods Hole, MA), studying the sources, distribution, behavior and fate of plastic debris in the ocean. Trained as a physical oceanographer, Dr. Law has more than 12 months of sea time on oceanographic and sailing research vessels, including in the eastern North Pacific and western North Atlantic Oceans where plastic debris accumulates in regions dubbed, “garbage patches”. Dr. Law’s current research interests focus on the sources of plastic to the marine environment, understanding how ocean physics determines the distribution of plastic and other marine debris, and the degradation and ultimate fate of different plastic materials in the ocean. Efforts to quantify the size of the problem and its impacts, as well as a toolbox of potential solutions, will be discussed. She is co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group FLOTSAM (Floating Litter and its Oceanic TranSport Analysis and Modelling), and serves as the co-principal investigator of the Marine Debris Working Group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Dr. Law holds a PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a BS in mathematics from Duke University.

Lecture series is FREE and open to the public. Lectures begin at 7:30 p.m.

Please join us for our 23rd season. This annual lecture series attempts to span the breadth of human interactions with coastal waters, including speakers from the natural and social sciences. All lectures are held in the auditorium, which is located on the second floor of the Academic Building (disabled accessible). Enter through the Academic Building or through the Student Center. There is a limited-capacity elevator on the first floor of the Academic Building. Please call us with your questions, or concerns, on the limited-mobility access points to the auditorium at 860-405-9025.

This series is sponsored by UCONN Avery Point, the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, the Department of Marine Sciences, UCONN and the Maritime Studies Program, UCONN. For more information, a printable lecture flyer, or a campus map, visit our website at http://marinesciences.uconn.edu/lectures/ or email [email protected].

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