U.S. Geological Survey Director Chip Groat will discuss the agency's 125-year history as one of the world's leading science organizations in an April 8 lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"United States Geological Survey: 125 Years of Science for America" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in the Eaton Humanities Building, room 1B50. The talk is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West and is free and open to the public.
Since 1879, the USGS has provided the Department of the Interior and the nation with the scientific knowledge needed to make important decisions on natural resources and natural hazards.
"The history of the USGS is one of the most consequential and instructive case studies in the role of science in shaping the American West and other regions," said history and environmental studies Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick. Groat's talk will address the agency's past, present and future.
Groat was sworn in as the 13th director of the USGS in November 1998. He came to the position from the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was associate vice president for research and sponsored projects following a term as director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management.
He previously served as state geologist and director of the Louisiana Geological Survey, executive director of the American Geological Institute, and executive director of the LSU Center for Coastal, Energy and Environmental Resources.
Groat has been a member of the National Research Council's Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the Outer Continental Shelf Policy Board and is a past president of the Association of American State Geologists. He holds a doctorate in geology from the University of Texas at Austin.
For more information contact the CU-Boulder Center of the American West at (303) 492-4879 or visit .