{ "147295-21900642": { "datetime_modified":"20260331T124430", "datetime_start":"20260722T190000", "datetime_end":"20260722T200000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-07-22", "date_end":"2026-07-22", "time_start":"19:00:00", "time_end":"20:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"\u201cLinking Pathogen Inactivation and Byproduct Formation: Nucleic Acid Fate During Drinking Water Disinfection\u201d", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"\u201cLinking Pathogen Inactivation and Byproduct Formation: Nucleic Acid Fate During Drinking Water Disinfection\u201d: Dr. Aleksandra Szczuka, University of Michigan", "event_subtitle":"Dr. Aleksandra Szczuka, University of Michigan", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"As part of the 2026 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), Dr. Aleksandra Szczuka will give a free, public talk about safe and sustainable drinking water and human health, titled \u201cLinking Pathogen Inactivation and Byproduct Formation: Nucleic Acid Fate During Drinking Water Disinfection.\u201d\n\nSzczuka is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan whose research is motivated by broad access to affordable water.\n\nDrinking water treatment plants \u2014 originally designed to treat relatively clean surface waters \u2014 are now faced with increasing levels of biological and chemical contaminants. \n\nChlorination is a key process for controlling acute health risks. However, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which pose chronic health risks such as bladder cancer, form as an unintended consequence of chlorination.\n\nSzczuka will examine nucleic acids as a missing link between pathogen control and byproduct formation. She also will discuss the roles of previously overlooked chlorine species in nucleic acid reactivity and viral inactivation, and the potential for nucleic acid chlorination to form an emerging class of DBPs.\n\nCollaborating with practitioners, Szczuka will talk about how utilities in Michigan are working to meet both biological and chemical contaminant treatment objectives in a changing climate.\n\nHer research uses fundamental chemistry and microbiology to inform treatment of non-traditional water sources to safeguard public health. Szczuka is especially interested in understanding the drivers of acute and chronic health risks in water and in advancing emerging treatment technologies.\n\nShe collaborates with researchers, engineers, and utility practitioners.\n\nSzczuka received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S.E. degree in chemical and biological engineering from Princeton University.\n\nPrior to starting her lab, Alex was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan. \n\nThe University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.\n\nFounded in 1909, UMBS supports long-term research and education through immersive, field-based courses and features state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for data collection and analysis to help any field researcher be productive. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.\n\nThe Summer Lecture Series is a tradition at UMBS, where we explore scientific topics with distinguished guest speakers from across the country so the community can learn about our natural world.\n\nThe free, public talks are on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the spring and summer in Gates Lecture Hall at the University of Michigan Biological Station, located at 9133 Biological Rd. in Pellston, Michigan \u2014 about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"147295-21900642@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/147295", "building_id":"null", "building_name":"Gates Lecture Hall, UM Biological Station", "campus_maps_id":"601", "room":"", "location_name":"Gates Lecture Hall, UM Biological Station", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["AEM Featured","Biological Station","Bsbsigns","U-m Biological Station"], "website":"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/umbs\/news-events\/all-events\/summer-lecture-series.html", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"University of Michigan Biological Station", "group_id":"3780", "website":"" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147295_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21900642 } , "147296-21900643": { "datetime_modified":"20260331T130019", "datetime_start":"20260729T190000", "datetime_end":"20260729T200000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-07-29", "date_end":"2026-07-29", "time_start":"19:00:00", "time_end":"20:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"Pettingill Lecture in Natural History: \u201cBeavers: Architects of Climate Resilience\u201d", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"Pettingill Lecture in Natural History: \u201cBeavers: Architects of Climate Resilience\u201d: Dr. Emily Fairfax, University of Minnesota", "event_subtitle":"Dr. Emily Fairfax, University of Minnesota", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"As part of the 2026 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), Dr. Emily Fairfax will give the Pettingill Lecture in Natural History. The free, public talk is titled \u201cBeavers: Architects of Climate Resilience.\u201d\n\nFairfax is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and an affiliate faculty member at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory.\n\nShe uses a combination of remote sensing, modeling, and field work to understand how beaver ecosystem engineering can create drought and fire-resistant patches in the landscape under a changing climate. \n\nBeaver dams and beaver mimicry (e.g. Beaver Dam Analogs) are gaining popularity as a low\u2010cost, nature-based strategy to build climate resiliency at the landscape scale.\n\nHere in the Great Lakes Region, we are experiencing wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, flashier storms, and a longer frost-free season.\n\nBeaver ecosystem engineering can help mitigate some of these impacts on local to watershed scales.\n\nBeavers slow and store water in their ponds, canals, and the surrounding soil during flood periods which can then be accessed by riparian vegetation during droughts.\n\nAs a result, the well-watered vegetation in beaver-dammed riparian corridors is less flammable. \n\nFairfax\u2019s research has shown that these beaver-influenced patches of the landscape stay green and can serve as climate refugia, preserving intact, mature riparian habitat, even during extreme drought and fire.\n\nShe suggests that perhaps instead of relying solely on human engineering and management to create and maintain healthy waterways and riparian zones, humans could benefit from partnering with beaver\u2019s ecosystem engineering to achieve the same goals at a lower cost. \n\nFairfax double majored in chemistry and physics as an undergraduate at Carleton College, then went on to earn a Ph.D. in geological sciences with an emphasis in hydrologic sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder.\n\nHer research has been featured internationally in National Geographic, the New York Times, the LA Times, PBS, NPR, BBC, and others. When Fairfax says she can talk about beavers all day, she\u2019s not kidding.\n\nThe University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.\n\nFounded in 1909, UMBS supports long-term research and education through immersive, field-based courses and features state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for data collection and analysis to help any field researcher be productive. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.\n\nThe Summer Lecture Series is a tradition at UMBS, where we explore scientific topics with distinguished guest speakers from across the country so the community can learn about our natural world.\n\nThe free, public talks are on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the spring and summer in Gates Lecture Hall at the University of Michigan Biological Station, located at 9133 Biological Rd. in Pellston, Michigan \u2014 about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"147296-21900643@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/147296", "building_id":"null", "building_name":"Gates Lecture Hall, UM Biological Station", "campus_maps_id":"601", "room":"", "location_name":"Gates Lecture Hall, UM Biological Station", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["AEM Featured","Biological Station","Bsbsigns","U-m Biological Station"], "website":"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/umbs\/news-events\/all-events\/summer-lecture-series.html", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"University of Michigan Biological Station", "group_id":"3780", "website":"" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/03\/event_147296_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21900643 } }