Ohio Wesleyan to Host Natural Resources Symposium Feb. 19
(left to right) George Elmaraghy, Nicholas Flores, and Douglas Southgate.
DELAWARE, OHIO – Ohio Wesleyan University will hold its second annual Environmental and Natural Resource Symposium on Feb. 19. This year’s panelists will dive into water-related issues.
“The main goal for this symposium is to engage OWU students, faculty, and staff, and Central Ohio residents in current water issues with a special focus on how water relates to economics and the environment,” said Andrew Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics and panel moderator. “We are excited to bring three distinguished speakers to this year’s event.”
The symposium will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
Panelists will include George Elmaraghy, division chief of surface water at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; Nicholas Flores, professor and department chair of economics at the University of Colorado; and Douglas Southgate, professor in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at The Ohio State University.
Elmaraghy will discuss issues related to excessive nutrients in Ohio surface water including algal blooms. He holds a Master of Science degree in environmental engineering from Ohio State and has been in his current EPA division chief’s role since 2004.
Flores will discuss groundwater, including public policies that impact water usage and the environment. He holds a doctorate in environmental economics from the University of California, San Diego, and specializes in environmental and resource economics.
Southgate will speak about how accelerated gas and oil development affects Ohio’s water. He holds a doctorate in natural resource economics from the University of Wisconsin. He specializes in the study of natural resource issues in the United States and around the world, including tropical deforestation, hydrocarbon development, and the economics of watershed management. At Ohio State, he also is the associate director of the Subsurface Energy Resource Center.
Each panelist will discuss his topic for 10 to 15 minutes and then field questions from other panelists and the audience.
The symposium will be streamed live online at StreamOWU and archived for later viewing. The event is sponsored by Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Economics and its Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.