Hydrogeophysicist to discuss grape growing Sept. 22

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Susan Hubbard, a pioneer in hydrogeophysics, will present "Waves and Wine: Geophysical Characterization to Guide Precision Viticulture" at 3:30 p.m., Sept. 22 in the Hardin Hall Auditorium.

Hubbard (pictured), staff scientist and Environmental Remediation and Water Resources program leader at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will discuss the practical use of advanced datasets to guide precision agriculture. Specifically, she will present research on how viticulturists can use data on geophysical attributes of vineyards to manage natural site variability.

Although advanced ground-based and airborne geophysical datasets are now available to provide information about soil variability and vegetation, the wine industry is still at an early stage in using these approaches to guide viticulture, Hubbard said. She will discuss advances in precision viticulture made through experiments at several California vineyards. Eventually the research may yield more uniformly high-quality grapes, while reducing use of water, fertilizer and energy.

Hubbard is the 2010 Birdsall Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, an annual award by the Hydrogeology Division of the Geological Society of America. She has a B.A. in geology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.S. in geophysics from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. in Engineering from UC-Berkeley. She has previously worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and for the petroleum industry, co-edited the first book on hydrogeophysics, and has published more than 60 papers on the topic.

Hubbard's talk is part of the 2010 Research Lecture Series organized by the School of Natural Resources. The lectures are free and open to the public, and begin at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. A limited number of metered parking spots are available to the east of Hardin Hall. Street parking is available south of Holdrege Street and west of 33rd Street.

Other lectures in the series are:

- Nov. 3, Paul Cox, executive director of the Institute for Ethnomedicine, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., "Linking Environmental Health to Human Health." Cox will also speak at 7 p.m., Nov. 2 in Hardin Hall on "Indigenous People and Island Conservation."

- Nov. 17, May Yuan, director of the Center for Spatial Analysis at the University of Oklahoma, "GI Science Approaches to Understanding Geographic Dynamics." Yuan's visit to UNL is also a part of Geography Awareness Week.

- Dec. 1, Mike Manfredo, professor and head, Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, "Wildlife Value Orientations." Manfredo focuses on the role of social science in natural resource management.

- Kelly Helm Smith, Natural Resources

More details at: http://snr.unl.edu