Dr. Marcia McNutt, president and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and named one of the world's top 50 women in science by 'Discover' magazine, is coming to Bermuda to give a lecture at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess on November 10. The event is part of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences' (BIOS) 'Distinguished Lecture' series.

The title of Dr. McNutt's talk is 'Engineering the Ocean', in which she asks her audience to imagine itself living in the year 2050. Land resources on planet Earth are exhausted and the human population is increasingly turning to the ocean to meet its basic needs for food, energy, and raw materials.

She poses the question: "Our history of development of the terrestrial sphere is rife with examples of environmental damage that was either costly or impossible to rectify. Will we learn our lesson and do better with development of the ocean?"

The eminent scientist will offer several future scenarios based on technologies which are available today that could easily be extended to commercial exploitation of the water-covered portion of the planet in the near future.

"What are the scientific, technical, political, economic, social, and ethical questions we will face as we increasingly engineer the ocean?" the scientist will ask.

Dr. McNutt's research ranges from studies of ocean island volcanism in French Polynesia, to continental break-up in the western Unitedd States and earthquake prediction, to uplift of the Tibet Plateau.

She has participated in 15 major oceanographic expeditions, and served as chief scientist on more than half of those voyages. In addition, she has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and throughout it all is encouraging young women to get into the sciences and to move up its ranks.

The lecture will take place in the hotel's Princess rooms. There will be a cash bar reception at 6.30 p.m, and the lecture will begin at 7 p.m. with a question-and-answer session to follow. Admission is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. Reservations are required, so please e-mail vanessa.shorto[AT]bios.edu or telephone her at 297-1880 extension 204.

Dr. McNutt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and gained her Ph.D in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

Her many honours include membership in the National Academy of Sciences; the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union; the Geological Society of America; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and the International Association of Geodesy.

From 2000-2002 she was president of the American Geophysical Union, and she also chaired the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration, convened by former US President Bill Clinton to examine the possibility of initiating a major US programme of exploring the oceans.

She is currently chairperson of the board of governors for Joint Oceanographic Institutions, and is also chairperson of the University Oceanographic Laboratory System. Dr. McNutt also serves on numerous evaluation and advisory boards for institutions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Stanford University, Harvard University, Science Magazine, and Schlumberger.

MBARI, in Moss Landing, California, is a non-profit research laboratory funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to develop and apply new technology for the exploration of the oceans.