Floods and Fences: Earth & Environment Department’s 2023 Robert E. Horton Lecture

Dr. Adriana Martinez, PhD, will lecture on “Floods and Fences: A Comprehensive Look at Border Wall Impacts in Eagle Pass, Texas” as invited speaker for this year’s Robert E. Horton Lecture, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30th in Norris 101, hosted by the Earth & Environment Department. 

Dr. Martinez is an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville with a joint appointment in the Department of Geography & Geographic Information Systems and the Department of Environmental Science. She is currently an American Geophysical Union (AGU) Landing Academy national fellow and was awarded the 2021-23 Hoppe Research Professor Award. Her work in geography and geomorphology spans the physical, human, and technical with her use of modeling, GIS (geographic information systems), and drones in her research into human impacts on river systems. She is also involved in projects aimed at increasing science identity among students underrepresented in geoscience, a project on environmental justice in St. Louis Metro East, and she is the primary investigator on the National Science Foundation’s S-STEM Watershed Scholars program that will fund 45 low-income graduate students studying watershed science.

The Earth & Environment Department’s Horton lecture is named for notable alumnus Robert E. Horton, who was born and raised in nearby Parma, Michigan, and graduated from Albion College in 1897. As a United States Geological Survey engineer in New York State, he conducted pioneering studies of the movement of water in the landscape.  His insights provided an important basis for our modern understanding of stream and river dynamics, flood impacts, and soil erosion and conservation. His work of a century ago is echoed in the important work that Dr. Martinez and others like her do today. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Ellen Wilch (e[email protected]).