Ocean pioneer presents 'The World Is Blue'

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle to visit

Dr. Sylvia Earle, former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is known as a trailblazer for the world’s oceans. She also is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence who will come to Bowling Green State University for two days to explore the value of our waters with students, faculty and the public.

As this year’s McMaster Visiting Scientist, she will present “The World Is Blue” at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in 202A Bowen-Thompson Student Union. Her presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow her talk.

Based on her book by the same name, Earle will discuss how our fate and the oceans' 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, focusing on the importance of taking care of our water systems.

Her reputation as an ecologist and conservator of marine ecosystems aligns with BGSU’s expansive involvement in the research and work being done on water quality locally, nationally and internationally.

She is founder of the Sylvia Earle Alliance (S.E.A.)/Mission Blue and Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc. She is also chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute. The 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 Ph.D. 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, a 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 program is underwritten by an endowment funded by Helen and the late Harold McMaster. The longtime BGSU benefactors, from Perrysburg, Ohio, established the interdisciplinary program to bring eminent scholars or practitioners from the fields of chemistry, biology, geology, physics or astronomy to the University. The event is hosted by the BGSU College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Biological Sciences.