Colorado State University Invites Community to Free Environmental Biotechnology Lecture Oct. 14

Colorado State University welcomes renowned environmental engineering professor Bruce E. Rittmann for a talk on "The Role of Molecular Methods in Environmental Biotechnology" on Oct. 14. The public is welcome to attend the lecture, which begins at 10 a.m. in the Cherokee Park Room of the Lory Student Center. The presentation is free.

Rittmann is the John Evans Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University. He will address issues concerning how recent advances in biotechnology and the development of molecular biology tools can help clean the environment.

Rittmann received his doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He has been president of the American Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, or AEESP; the vice chairman of the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council; and a member of the E.P.A. Science Advisory Board. Rittmann was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering and is on the list of the most highly cited researchers of the Institute for Science Information.

Rittman will discuss how methods derived from molecular biology provide powerful new tools to analyze and improve processes including drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, and the clean-up of hazardous materials such as oil spills and radioactive substance. Rapidly-growing knowledge in biotechnology is now providing a means to obtain high-level information about naturally-occurring beneficial bacteria and how they can drive these environmental processes.

Rittman will additionally discuss what the next steps are to develop molecular methods into more quantitative and less expensive tools so that they may reach their full potential in helping clean and protect the environment as well as make them more realistic for common use by practicing engineers.  

For more information, contact Amy Pruden at 970-491-8814.

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