Wesleyan will welcome noted Antarctic researcher Dr. James McClintock for a campus Convo on April 26 at 11:15 in Taylor Amphitheatre. Dr. McClintock is the Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He recently returned from his 15th research expedition to Antarctica where over the past 20 years he and his research collaborators have become among the world’s authorities on Antarctic marine chemical ecology and drug discovery and have developed an award winning interactive educational outreach web site (www.antarctica.uab.edu).
His research has been funded continuously over the past 25 years by the National Science Foundation and focuses primarily on Antarctic marine chemical ecology. Over the past decade his research has also encompassed studies of the impacts of rapid climate change and ocean acidification on Antarctic marine algae and invertebrates. His expertise on the ecological impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine life of the Antarctic Peninsula has garnered numerous invited lectures and he also writes on this timely topic.
In 1998 the United States Board on Geographic Names designated the geographic feature “McClintock Point” in honor of his contributions to Antarctic science. In 2001 he was selected as the winner of the Wright A. Gardner Award for the most outstanding scientist in the state of Alabama. Dr. McClintock has published two books; "Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land" and "A Naturalist Goes Fishing."
Dr. McClintock's visit was arranged in collaboration with P & E and with funding from a S-STEM grant from the National Science Foundation. In addition to his scheduled campus lecture, he will engage with SPARC Scholars and other Wesleyan students for a Lunch and Learn talk following his presentation.