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2011 Iowa Academy of Science Speakers Series
at Saylorville & Coralville Lakes
Saylorville Lake Events
Coralville Lake Events
2011 Saylorville Lake Speakers Series
The Academy began a speaker series at Saylorville Lake in 2008. We are pleased to contitue the program in 2011. All presentations begin at 2:00 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Saylorville Lake Visitor Center website: http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/Saylorville/VCInfo.cfm
Pachyrhinosaurus: A Tale of Two Species
Saturday, June 18th at 2:00 p.m.
Bill Desmarais, Retired Science Teacher, Washington High School, Cedar Rapids
Imagine, much to your surprise, thinking you have found one thing and it turns out to be a different thing. That’s what happened on a recent paleontological expedition to far northwest Alberta, Canada. Bill Desmarais participated in a dinosaur dig on a steep bluff overlooking the Wapiti River in Alberta. The dig expected to find the remains of a recently identified horned dinosaur. However, after lab work on the fossil remains at the University of Alberta at Edmonton, a new species may have been found. Follow this adventure and meet the un-horned dinosaur Pachyrhinosaurus. There will be an interactive part to the program where you will be able to apply your paleontological skills as well as touch an as yet-to-be-named new species of dinosaur. Appropriate for all ages.
Year of the Turtle
Saturday, June 25th at 2:00 p.m.
Rebecca Christoffel, Assistant Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist Department of Natural & Resource Ecology and Management Iowa State University
Wild Flowers of the Tallgrass Prairie
Saturday, July 2nd at 2:00 p.m.
Tom Rosburg, Associate Professor, Drake University
TITLE: TBA
Saturday, July 10th at 2:00 p.m.
Steven Main, Wartburg College, Waverly
Tornadoes to Blizzards: Living with Iowa's Volatile Weather
Saturday, July 23rd at 2:00 p.m.
Craig Johnson, Meteorologist and Executive Director of the Iowa Academy of Science
If you don’t like Iowa’s weather just wait a few minutes. This adaptation of a Mark Twain quote about New England applies to Iowa too. Iowa is at the crossroads of weather systems crossing North America. For that reason we have four distinct seasons and an endless variety of weather combinations. This talk covers the extremes and the typical. Learn about what causes our weather, how we measure and forecast it, and see cloud types visible to all Iowans. Children are welcome.
Co-sponsored by the Iowa Academy of Science and the Army Corps of Engineers at Saylorville Lake.
2011 Coralville Lake Speakers Series
TBA
The Iowa Academy of Science National Wildlife Refuge Audio Series
IAS Scientists and Science Educators came together to develop this series of audio downloads about the ecology, geology and conservation history of Iowa's National Wildlife Refuges.
Past Saylorville Programs
2010 Iowa Academy of Science Speakers Series at Saylorville Lake
Track 'em Down and Dig 'em Up: Dinosaur Discoveries in Alberta
Bill Desmarais, Former science teacher at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids.
Alberta, Canada is a known hot bed of dinosaur discoveries and fossils. Come on this virtual expedition and find thousands of dinosaur tracks and track ways uncovered in a large coal mine in the Canadian Rockies. The expedition continues with discoveries of multiple Albertosaurus skeletons in the badlands that hint at the pack hunting nature of large tyrannosaurs. There will be interactive parts where you will be able to apply your paleontologist skills and observe real dinosaur fossils and footprints. Children are welcome!
Bill Desmarais was a high school science teacher in Iowa for 36 years before his retirement in 2007. He taught biology, earth sciences, and Advanced Placement Environmental Science at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. Since 1982 he has had the good fortune to work with Dr. Phil Currie of the University of Alberta at Edmonton and Pete and Neil Larson of the Black Hills Institute at several dinosaur quarries in South Dakota, Wyoming and several locations in Alberta, Canada.
Bill is a member of the Iowa Academy of Science and the Cedar Valley Rock and Minerals Society.
Use of Photography in Wildlife Research
Aaron Haines, Upper Iowa University
Building Ecological Resilience for a Changing Climate: The Role of Agriculture in the Upper Midwest
Laura Jackson, University of Northern Iowa
More information and maps are available at the Saylorville Lake website:
http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/Saylorville/VCInfo.cfm
Co-sponsored by the Iowa Academy of Science and the Army Corps of Engineers at Saylorville Lake.
Position Papers
- IAS Statement on Biodiversity, Februay 2012 [.pdf] or Brief Version [.pdf]
- IAS Statement on Creationism as a Scientific Explanation of Natural Phenomena [.pdf]
- IAS Statement on Animal Rights [.pdf] and link to AAAS Statement on Use of Animals in Research [.pdf]
- IAS Statement on Pseudoscience [.pdf]
Selected articles from the
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science
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