Richard Bopp, an expert on the PCB
contamination of the Hudson River, will speak on
“Mercury Deposition in New York
and New Jersey: From Geochemistry
to Policy” on Thursday, April 22, at 7 p.m.
in the Nott Memorial.
His talk, which is free and open
to the public, is sponsored by the College's Environmental Studies Program, the
Environmental Awareness Club and the Minerva Committee.
Bopp, associate professor of earth
and environmental sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, studied
chemistry as an undergraduate at MIT, and has a Ph.D. in geology from Columbia
University. For the past 20 years
he has conducted research on various aspects of contaminant geochemistry in the
Hudson River, its tributaries, and other natural waters
of the Hudson Basin.
His research group at RPI uses
analysis of dated sediment cores to study the sources and distribution of PCBs,
pesticides, dioxins, PAHs, and trace metals. They also study atmospheric
deposition of contaminants, and in situ dechlorination of PCBs.
Bopp has been involved in several
major contaminant issues including the PCB problem in the Hudson,
dioxins in Newark Bay,
and disposal of contaminated dredge spoils.
His talk is the last in the
College's Environmental Studies lecture series titled “Environmental Science
and Public Policy.” Environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opened the
series. Orrin Pilkey, an authority on the protection of coastlines, also spoke.