PULLMAN – Daniel Hillel, an international authority on sustainable management of soil and water resources and author, will present the fifth annual Gaylon Campbell Lectures in Environmental Soil and Water Science on October 25 and 26 at WSU.
Hillel will discuss the vital and challenging role of environmental soil science in an increasingly troubled world at 4:10 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25, in room 203 of the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education. A reception will immediately follow in the CUE Atrium.
His second lecture, scheduled at noon, Friday, Oct. 26, in room 125 of College Hall, will focus on the topic of his latest book, “The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures.” He will discuss the historical evolution of culture as shaped by the environment, focusing on the ancient Fertile Crescent as reflected in archaeological and written records. A reception and book signing will immediately follow in the College Hall Museum of Anthropology.
Both lectures are free an open to the public.
Hillel served as professor and head of Soil and Water Sciences at the Hebrew University, has been professor of soil physics, hydrology, and environmental sciences at several leading universities, and has been a consultant on agricultural development and environmental protection to the World Bank and several agencies of the United Nations.
He is currently serving as senior research scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research of Columbia University in New York and as visiting lecturer at the University of Bonn.
Over the course of his long and active career Hillel has made lasting and fundamental contributions to our understanding of soil and water as the keys to global environmental management.
The Campbell Lecture in Environmental Soil and Water Science was created to help further understanding of environmental soil science. It is named for Gaylon Campbell, who spent nearly 30 years as a professor of environmental biophysics and soil physics in WSU’s crop and soil sciences department. He retired from WSU in 1998 to become vice president of engineering of Decagon Devices, a local manufacturer of biophysical research instrumentation. The lecture was created through gifts from Campbell Scientific, Inc. and Decagon Devices, Inc.
The lectures are presented jointly by the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, the Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach, the Department of Anthropology, and in conjunction with the 2007 WSU Sustainability Fair.
Contact Markus Flury at (509) 335-1719 or flury@wsu.edu for more information.
