WTMA Distinguished Lectureship in Science Honoring Dr. Roy E. Moon

Smol will present “Canaries in the Coal Mine: Polar Lakes as Sentinels of Environmental Change” at 2 p.m. and then “Lessons from the Past: Using Environmental Histories to Assess Human Impacts on Our Aquatic Resources” at 8 p.m. March 28 in the University Center’s C.J. Davidson Conference Center. Both lectures are open free to the public. 

Also the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change at Queens University, Smol is considered one of the world’s leading experts on climate change. Following post-doctoral work in the High Arctic with the Geological Survey of Canada, Smol became a faculty member at Queens University in 1984. He has also held adjunct teaching and research appointments in Canada, the U.S. and China. 

In 1991, Smol founded the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL) at Queens University. PEARL comprises about 40 students and other scientists dedicated to the study of global environmental change with a primary focus on changes in lake ecosystems, or paleolimnology.  

The WTMA Lectureship honors Dr. Roy E. Moon, a longtime San Angelo obstetrician and gynecologist, who died in 1976. He practiced for 28 years with Clinic Hospital Medical Associates, now West Texas Medical Associates. The lectureship was established in 1976 and is underwritten by a grant to ASU from the members of WTMA.  

Each year, the lectureship brings a scientist of national prominence to ASU for public lectures, colloquia and informal discussions. 

The selection committee is chaired by Dr. Paul Swets, dean of the ASU College of Science and Engineering, and includes Dr. David Bixler, chair of the Physics and Geosciences Department; Dr. Crosby Jones, professor of biology; Dr. John Osterhout, chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department; WTMA physicians Dr. Kelly Hallmark, Dr. Colleen Heartsill and Dr. Joe Wilkinson; and retired physician Dr. Fazlur Rahman.