October 12, 2009
Best-selling author, biologist to speak at Purdue sustainability event
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
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Streever, in a free event sponsored by Purdue's Discovery Park, will speak at 4 p.m. in Room 121 of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, 1201 W. State St. A book signing will follow in the center's Venture Café. The events are free and open to the public.
"Bill Streever is a scientist whose passion for the cold runs red hot. And his book, his story and his research will resonate with students, faculty and others here at Purdue and throughout the Midwest," said John Bickham, Purdue professor of forestry and natural resources and director of Discovery Park's Center for the Environment.
The visit by Streever, an environmental studies leader for BP Exploration Alaska, coincides with the two-day Marine, Mammals & Sound Workshop on Oct. 21 and 22, also at the Burton D. Morgan Center. The workshop on related environmental research will include talks by Purdue faculty, Streever and Robert Suydam of the North Slope Borough's Wildlife Department in Alaska.
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In "Cold," Streever takes the reader on a journey through history, myth, geography and ecology in a yearlong quest for the lowest temperatures on Earth. As Streever sheds light on the influence of cold on the planet and cultures, Bickham said, the author illustrates that - whether you love or hate it - the planet simply wouldn't be the same without it.
With 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, "Cold" tells the science of hibernation in which animals such as frogs and caterpillars can spend winter in a frozen state and then thaw out and revive the next spring. Streever also writes about how frostbite attacks human flesh and the difference between it and hypothermia.
In the 2009 book published by Little, Brown & Co., Streever investigates 1816's "year without summer," after the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia filled the earth's atmosphere with ash, and how it inspired Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a novel that begins with letters from an Arctic explorer.
An avid outdoorsman, Streever began working as a commercial diver in harbors in Maine and oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico and the South China Sea. Later, with a fellowship from the National Science Foundation, he compared natural wetlands and wetlands created on phosphate-mined lands, leading to a doctorate from the University of Florida.
He then worked for the University of Newcastle in Australia, where he developed a broad research program linked to the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project. After returning to the United States, he conducted research throughout the country for the Waterways Experiment Station, a federal government laboratory.
One of his projects led him to Alaska, where he now runs an Anchorage-based applied research program in the Alaskan North Slope oilfields. Streever has authored or co-authored more than 50 technical publications on topics ranging from plant competition and the evolution of cave organisms to environmental economics.
Streever's Purdue visit is sponsored by the university's Center for the Environment and Energy Center in Discovery Park as well as Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.
Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Source: John Bickham, 765-494-5146, bickham@purdue.edu
Bill Streever, bill.streever@bp.com
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Journalists who would like to schedule an interview with Bill Streever, outdoorsman, biologist and author of "Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places," in advance of his visit to Purdue should contact Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:
Alaskan biologist Bill Streever will deliver an Oct. 21 lecture to discuss his best-selling book, "Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places," which chronicles the influence of cold on the planet and cultures through its 12 chapters that represent the 12 months of a year. Here, he's pictured with a polar bear cub during his time in the Arctic researching the book. (Purdue photo courtesy of Steve Amstrup)
A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2009/streever-polarbear.jpg
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