Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Early bird registration for the 2017 SEC Academic Conference on “The Future of Water” has been extended until Feb. 28.
The conference will take place March 27-28 at Mississippi State University and feature three keynote speakers and more than 60 speakers and panelists representing all 14 SEC institutions.
Early bird rates for the conference are $175 and $50 for students. After Feb. 28, the cost is $225 and $75 for students.
“We want this conference to showcase the best that the SEC institutions have to offer,” MSU Vice President for Research and Economic Development David Shaw said. “Every university was involved in the planning process. This topic is very timely for the entire SEC and also is important at the national and global levels.”
Best-selling author John M. Barry, who wrote the 1998 book, “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America,” speaks March 27, as does Dennis Dimick, former executive environment editor of National Geographic magazine. Jay Famiglietti, professor of earth system science and civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, will speak March 28.
For complete details and registration, visit www.secconference.msstate.edu.
Increased climate variability and water demand are bringing water issues to the forefront of research discussion. Drought, declines in aquifers used for irrigation, and sea-level rise are among core topics of interest. The conference is designed to stimulate communication and collaboration toward sustainable and resilient water resource management in the Southeast, with overarching themes to include shared inland waters and aquifers, coastlines, climate and regional policy.
The SEC Academic Conference represents an expanded slate of academic programming currently supported by the Southeastern Conference. The on-campus event is expected to showcase SEC university research in areas of critical importance within the region and around the nation. SECU is the academic initiative of the SEC, and it serves as the primary mechanism through which the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of SEC universities are supported and advanced.
For more on SECU, visit www.TheSECU.com.