Calvin Panel to Look at Katrina, Geology, Geography and More

September 9, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

A quartet of Calvin College geology, geography and environmental studies
professors will present a panel discussion on Tuesday, September 13 at 4 pm on
Hurricane Katrina and some of the geological, geographic and environmental
reasons behind what happened in New Orleans.

That discussion is free and open to all and will be held room 078 of Calvin's
North Hall.

The panel is slated to include Calvin professors Gerry Van Kooten, Janel
Curry, Johnathan Bascom and Henk Aay. They will look at predisposing
conditions that made the hurricane so devastating, including loss of wetlands,
land subsidence due to pumping from underground, destruction of the delta by
canalization and levees and even the site of New Orleans itself.

The panelists have a wide variety of areas of expertise.

VanKooten worked for over 20 years as a petroleum geologist and oil and gas
consultant in Alaska and now teaches mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and
structural geology.

Bascom has a Ph.D. in geography and does his primary research on refugees and
the issues that surround their migration, protection and assistance.

Curry once did ethnographic and historical research in southern Louisiana for
the Houma Tribe and her research interests include natural resource management
and marine and coastal management.

Aay is a native of the Netherlands who has published research on the
relationships between nature and culture in works of fiction, on environmental
advertising and on the history of geographic education.

For more on the Calvin geology, geography and environmental studies department
see
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/geology/index.htm

Contact Henk Aay at 616-526-7033

-end-
Received on Fri Sep 9 14:32:36 2005