Dr. William F. Fitzgerald, one of the foremost experts on the chemistry of mercury from an oceanographic and environmental perspective, will be spending several weeks at Gustavus Adolphus College this fall in various roles.
Fitzgerald will be one of eight keynote speakers at this year’s Nobel Conference in early October, is serving as the College’s Rydell Professor this fall, and will be giving a public lecture on Friday, Sept. 14 as a preview to this year’s Nobel Conference.
Fitzgerald, the 2011 recipient of the Kathryn R. Mahaffey Lifetime Achievement Award in Mercury Research, will be involved in an upper level special topics course in oceanography as part of his duties as this year’s Rydell Professor. The course is being taught by six different Gustavus faculty members including Julie Bartley (Geology), Joel Carlin (Biology), Jeff Jeremiason (Chemistry), Chuck Niederriter (Physics), Brian O’Brien (Chemistry), and Laura Triplett (Geography).
The Rydell Professorship is a scholar-in-residence program designed to bring Nobel laureates and similarly distinguished scholars to the Gustavus campus as catalysts for enhancing learning and teaching. It was established in 1995 by Drs. Robert E. and Susan T. Rydell of Minnetonka, Minn., to give students the opportunity to learn from and interact with leading scholars.
Fitzgerald will also be delivering a talk titled “Iron in the Oceans: What’s the Fuss About?” at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14 in Alumni Hall. Fitzgerald’s lecture is intended to be a prelude to the 48th annual Nobel Conference, “Our Global Ocean,” and will explore the biogeochemical basis for the provocative claim that half a sea-going tanker of iron would yield another ice age. The Sept. 14 lecture is free and open to the public.
Fitzgerald will then speak on day one of the Nobel Conference at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Tickets for this year’s Nobel Conference are available online at gustavustickets.com. More information about the Nobel Conference is available online at gustavus.edu/nobel.
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