Great Conversations is a unique live event benefiting the Honors College at the University of North Texas. This engaging program brings together individuals of accomplishment and skill to facilitate conversations on important, diverse, and stimulating topics, ranging from the intellectual to the lighthearted. The event is being held in the Apogee VIP Clubroom Tuesday, February 22, 2022, from 6:00-9:00pm. This year two professors from the UNT Department of Biological Sciences will be featured as guests at the event:
Dr. Ione Hunt von Herbing
Gifts from the Sea: Connecting with Ocean Science through Story to Heal the Planet and Ourselves
Dr. Ione Hunt von Herbing is Associate Professor and Director of the Marine Conservation and Aquatic Physiological Laboratory (MCAPL) in UNT's Department of Biological Sciences. Over the past 15 years, her concern for the deteriorating health of global oceans and wild fisheries -- and lack of sustainably farmed fish -- led her to use probiotics in her research to increase the health and productivity of farmed fish in Texas and Mexico. In conjunction with UNT graduate students, she holds two patents, including a treatment for the human disease PKU using a genetically modified probiotic. Most recently, Dr. Hunt von Herbing teamed with UNT chemists, physicists and engineers to learn more about the diverse challenges of climate change on ocean and human health to identify interdisciplinary and global solutions for a better future.
Dr. James Kennedy
Fighting the bite, Mosquito Wrangling in North Central Texas
In early August 2002, Dr. James Kennedy's lab collected the first mosquito populations that tested positive for West Nile Virus (WNV) in north central Texas. Since that time he has monitored mosquito populations and mosquito borne diseases annually in the City of Denton, in partnership with the City of Denton and the Texas Department of State Health Services. The conversation at this table will focus on mosquito ecology, their populations and WNV and the recent concerns about the potential occurrence of ZIKA, Chikungunya and Dengue in the Dallas Fort Worth Area.
Dr. James H. Kennedy, is a Regents Professor of biological sciences and the Executive Director of the Elm Fork Education Center and Natural Heritage Museum. In addition, he is an associate director of the University of North Texas Sub-Antarctic Biocultural and Conservation program and has served as a visiting professor for the last eight years in the graduate program at the University of Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile. As well, Dr. Kennedy was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Magallanes in 2009.
Dr. Kennedy's research program focuses on five areas: stream ecology, aquatic insect biology, biodiversity studies, the use of macroinvertebrates in the ecological risk assessment process and environmental education. Professor Kennedy has authored or coauthored over 100 publications covering various aspects of aquatic ecology, and ecotoxicology, including laboratory and field toxicity testing procedures, and simulated field studies. He is recognized internationally for his work in the use of surrogate aquatic ecosystems in the ecological risk assessment process. Much of his current research is focused in the Sub-Antarctic region of South America where he is developing long term monitoring programs using benthic macroinvertebrates to monitor biologically significant changes in rivers and streams that may be associated with global climate change. The goal of most of the laboratories projects is to develop information to aid in management decisions and conservation of freshwater ecosystems.
Visit https://honors.unt.edu/greatconversations for ticket information.