Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, is this year's McMaster Visiting Scientist. She will present "The World is Blue" at a public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. in 202 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Based on her book "The World is Blue," Earle will discuss how our fate and the ocean's are one. She will share stories that put the current and future peril of the ocean and the life it supports in perspective for a public audience.  

The event is free and open to the public. Parking for off-campus visitors will be available in Lot 7D. A reception will immediately follow her presentation.

Earle is founder of the Sylvia Earle Alliance (S.E.A.) / Mission Blue and Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc. (DOER). She is chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute and former chief scientist of NOAA. Author of more than 200 publications and leader of more than 100 expeditions with over 7,000 hours underwater,  Earle is a graduate of Florida State University with M.A. and PhD. degrees from Duke University and 27 honorary doctorates.

Her research concerns the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems and development of technology for access to the deep sea. She is the subject of the Emmy® Award Winning Netflix documentary, Mission Blue, and the recipient of more than 100 national and international honors and awards including being named Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, 2014 UNEP Champion of the Earth, Glamour Magazine’s 2014 Woman of the Year, member of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark, and winner of the 2009 TED Prize, the Walter Cronkite Award, the 1996 Explorers Club Medal, the Royal Geographic Society 2011 Patron’s Medal, and the National Geographic 2013 Hubbard Medal.

The McMaster Visiting Scientist is program underwritten by an endowment funded by Helen and the late Harold McMaster. The longtime BGSU benefactors, from Perrysburg, funded the interdisciplinary program to bring eminent scholars or practitioners from the fields of chemistry, biology, geology, physics or astronomy to the University.

RSVPs recommended, or for more information, email artsandsciences@bgsu.edu