College of Arts and Sciences

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2023 Morgan Science Lecture! Please stay tuned for details about the next Morgan Science Lecture in Fall 2025.

The Morgan Science Lecture Series 

The Morgan Science Lecture Series is made possible by a gift from the G. William Morgan Family. The purpose of the Morgan Science Lecture Series is to stimulate scientific understanding and research among the sciences by bringing innovative and prominent researchers to Appalachian State University's campus. This year, the event is hosted by the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.

We are pleased to announce that our 2023 Morgan Science Lecture will be presented by Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University.

• Title: "Finding the Good News on Climate and Energy"

• Date: Thursday, October 26, 2023

• Time: 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Lecture begins at 7:00 p.m. Q&A to follow.)

• Format: In Person

• Location: I.G. Greer Auditorium, Appalachian State University (401 Academy Street, Boone, NC 28608)

• Description: We enjoy great benefits from energy use, mostly from fossil fuels now, but they cause highly damaging climate changes. Very strong evidence shows that we can use this knowledge to build a larger economy in a cleaner environment with more jobs, improved health, and greater national security more consistent with the Golden Rule. Students today are part of the first generation in human history that knows with confidence that they can build a sustainable energy system, powering everyone everywhere.

• Details: This event is free and open to the public with no ticketing or registration. For a disability accommodation, visit odr.appstate.edu.

• Host: The College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University

• Questions? Please contact the College of Arts and Sciences at cas@appstate.edu or (828) 262-3078.

Click here to add the event to your Google Calendar!

Alley will also give a technical talk as part of the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences' weekly seminar series.

• Title: “Collapsing Cliffs? Ice Sheets and Sea Level”

• Date: Friday, October 27, 2023

• Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.

• Location: Room 293, Rankin Science West

• Description: The ocean is rising into coastal communities because of human-caused warming. Ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland is contributing, and could accelerate in the future. History and physics show that warming melts ice, and that too much warming can trigger rapid iceberg calving. Modern visitors to Glacier Bay in Alaska sail more than 60 miles into a fjord that held ice up to a mile thick when George Vancouver visited in 1794, and many other fjords have similarly “unzipped” into their mountains or ice sheet. If retreat of this type is triggered in any of the major Antarctic basins holding far more ice, more than 10 feet of additional sea-level rise could occur in the following century or less. Despite rapid scientific advances, large uncertainties remain.

• Details: This event is free and open to the public with no ticketing or registration. For a disability accommodation, visit odr.appstate.edu.

• Host: The Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University

• Questions? Please contact the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at earth_env_sci@appstate.edu or (828) 262-3049.

Click here to add the event to your Google Calendar!

About the Speaker