02-28-12

Ecologist and cancer survivor to talk about pollution and health at ISU March 4

AMES, Iowa -- Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, cancer survivor and author, will speak at Iowa State University on Sunday, March 4. Her talk, "Environmental Pollution, Climate Change and Our Health," will be at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Sun Room. Steingraber's presentation is the 2012 Shivvers Memorial Lecture. It is free and open to the public.

In her latest book, "Raising Elijah: Protecting Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis," Steingraber speaks as a scientist and a mother about the joys of bringing up her son while searching for ways to shield him - and other children - from the effects of climate change and environmental pollution. Her other books are "Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment" and "Having Faith: An Ecologists Journey to Motherhood," a memoir of her own pregnancy with her daughter and an investigation of fetal toxicology.

Steingraber was recently honored with the Heinz Award, given for significant achievements benefitting the environment. A scholar-in-residence in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Ithaca College, N.Y., she has a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Steingraber's lecture is cosponsored by the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy and Environmental Education, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body. More information on ISU lectures is available at http://www.lectures.iastate.edu, or by calling 515-294-9935.

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