Biologist Robbie Soltz to discuss water resources in China
Biologist Robbie Soltz will give a lecture on water resources in China on Monday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in BU's Kehr Union Ballroom. An expert in water resource management and flood control, Soltz is the wife of BU President David Soltz. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Her talk, "The NSF Goes to China: A Study of the Impact of Development Projects on the People and Water Resources of the Desert Regions in Northwest China," is sponsored by The Global Awareness Society International. The lecture will focus on data gathered as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) project conducted by teams of U.S. and Chinese scholars and students.
Soltz earned a doctorate in biology from the University of California, Ivine. After serving three years as an ecologist for the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she joined the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as director of environmental compliance. During Soltz's nearly 20-year career in flood control and water resource management, she had a key role in negotiating environmental agreements for a variety of projects, including the Seven Oaks and Diamond Valley dams located in California's San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Soltz earned the President's Environmental and Conservation Challenge Award in 1992.
Prior to moving to Bloomsburg in January, Soltz taught environmental resource management, human ecology, and general biology for six years as an adjunct faculty member at Central Washington University and directed the University Science Talent Expansion Program funded by a five-year, $1 million NSF grant that she wrote. She recently submitted a new proposal to the NSF to engage undergraduate students in social environmental research in China.
The Global Awareness Society International Student Club will collect plastic bags for recycling during the April 21 event and the first 50 people who bring in at least 25 plastic bags will receive free reusable cloth tote bags. Refreshments will be served.