UNC Asheville Hosts Award-Winning Environmental Scientist

UNC Asheville will host a talk on "Environmental Health Issues and the Role of Scientists" by Joann Burkholder, associate professor of aquatic botany and marine sciences at North Carolina State University, at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 4, in UNC Asheville's Humanities Lecture Hall. In her talk, Burkholder will focus on her research on the unusual and hazardous dinoflagellatae, Pfiesteria piscicida. The event is free and open to the public.

Burkholder received the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998 for her dedication in focusing public attention on how U.S. rivers and fish could be devastated by the toxic dinoflagellate, Pfiesteria piscicida. She co-discovered the unusual organism in 1991 and has been working to characterize its stimulation by sewage and other nutrient enrichment, and to determine the range of its impacts on commercially important finfish and shellfish in North Carolina estuaries and aqua cultural facilities.

"Dr. Burkholder is very interested in the health of the environment and the impact of humans on marine and freshwater habitats," said Tim Forrest, UNC Asheville associate professor of biology.

The talk is sponsored by UNC Asheville's Biology Department and Missing Links student biology club.

For more information, call Forrest at 828/232-5150.

Media Contacts:

• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6676
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526