Coast Day lecturer and Assistant Professor of Geology
Art Trembanis discusses the use of autonomous
underwater vehicles. Photo by Lisa Tossey
If you love the ocean and want to learn more about it, there’s no better opportunity than Coast Day, held Sunday, Oct. 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the University of Delaware’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes. The free event offers lectures on a range of topics sure to capture your interest, from oil spills to photography.
Kicking off the Focus on the Coast lecture series at 12 p.m. will be Professor of Oceanography Jonathan Sharp, who will present “Is Climate Change Altering the Behavior of the Delaware Bay?” Next, at 1 p.m. Professor of Marine Policy Willett Kempton, who directs UD’s Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, will present “Offshore Wind for Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic.” And at 2 p.m. Professor of Marine Policy James Corbett will discuss “Delaware’s Connection to America’s Oil Spill.”
The Coast Day lecture series includes Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences Art Trembanis, who will present “Underwater Mission to Mars — How Robots Are Helping Guide Space Exploration” at 12 p.m. The series wraps up at 1 p.m. with a lecture called “Fighting Oil Spills in the Delaware Bay and River: A Cooperative Approach” from Rich Gaudiosi, president of the Delaware Bay and River Cooperative (DRBC). DRBC operates the oil skimming vessel Delriver, which will be available for tours at Coast Day.
A third series, the Wildlife Seminars, include a 1:30 p.m. talk on photographing wild Delmarva from photographer and author Kevin Fleming and a 3 p.m. discussion about marine mammals and sea turtles of the Delaware Coast given by Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the Marine Education, Research, and Rehabilitation (MERR) Institute.
Coast Day, an annual educational festival and showcase for Delaware's rich marine resources, is sponsored by the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE) and the Delaware Sea Grant College Program. It is supported by Gamesa Corp., Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, OSG Ship Management Inc., PNC Bank, UTEC Survey Inc., and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For more information about Coast Day, visit www.decoastday.org or call 302-831-8083. Additionally, the full lineup will be available through the event program on the Coast Day website Monday, Sept. 20.
For more about CEOE, visit www.ceoe.udel.edu. To learn more about Delaware Sea Grant, visit www.deseagrant.org.