Register Now for the "What's in Our Drinking Water" Agnes W.H. Tan Science Symposium at Viterbo University March 24-25; Event to Begin with Public Lecture by Erin Brockovich

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

March 1, 2022

Contact Jamie O’Neill at 608-796-3472 or jmoneill@viterbo.edu

REGISTER NOW FOR THE “WHAT’S IN OUR DRINKING WATER” AGNES W.H. TAN SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM AT VITERBO UNIVERSITY MARCH 24–25; EVENT TO BEGIN WITH PUBLIC LECTURE BY ERIN BROCKOVICH

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The public is invited to attend the “What’s in Our Drinking Water” Agnes W.H. Tan Science Symposium at Viterbo University Friday, March 25. In-person and virtual options are available.

The free symposium will feature experts from the fields of academia, federal, state, and local government agencies, tribes, nonprofits, and private industry. It will examine questions such as: Where does drinking water come from and why does that matter? With the recent news of entire communities needing to avoid tap water in their very own homes, how can we come together to learn the science behind how to keep our water clean? The goal of the symposium is to empower attendees with scientific knowledge and inspire hopeful paths toward cleaner water.

The symposium will begin with a lecture by Erin Brockovich at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 24 in the Fine Arts Center Main Theatre and streamed on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/viterboethics. Brockovich and the true story of her amazing legal battle with a polluting power company became famous with the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, in which she was played by Julia Roberts. Brockovich’s presentation at Viterbo, entitled “What’s in Your Drinking Water,” is part of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership’s Spring Lecture Series.

The March 25 schedule will begin at 9 a.m. with a keynote presentation by Jeannie Purchase, an engineer, citizen scientist, and advocate. Purchase is a PhD candidate at Virginia Tech in environmental and water resources engineering.

Other presenters and breakout session leaders are:

  • Sarah Yang, toxicologist with the Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health and the groundwater toxicologist with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. 
  • Kevin Masarik, integrated specialist with UW-Extension in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
  • Daniel Sambu, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Sambu teaches geography and earth science and specializes on issues related to water resources, sustainable development, environmental conservation, and community livelihood.
  • Cheryl Nenn, community science water monitoring. As a Riverkeeper, Nenn identifies sources of pollution in Milwaukee’s rivers, actively patrols the rivers for issues of concern, responds to community concerns, and looks for collaborative solutions to problems affecting the rivers.
  • Forest Jahnke, Crawford Stewardship Project. Jahnke works to bring research and education to drinking water projects and has been involved with a wide range of projects involving grassroots networking and cross-organizational coordination.
  • Tisha King-Heiden, UW-La Crosse biology professor and an affiliate of the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and the UW-L River Studies Center.  She is also the vice president for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry of North America.
  • Kelly Smalling, research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
  • Paul Bradley, research hydrologist/ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
  • Allison Madison, Wisconsin Salt Wise. Madison leads the statewide collaboration around salt reduction.
  • Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio’s La Crosse reporter since 2015.

The Agnes W.H. Tan Science Symposium was created through the generosity of the late Viterbo alumna Agnes Tan, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Viterbo in 1963. Tan went on to earn a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1967. She enjoyed a long career in academic and applied health-related research as an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota and as a research chemist at Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis.

Participants in the Friday, March 25 portion of the symposium are required to register at https://www.viterbo.edu/agnes-wh-tan-science-symposium. Registration is not required for Brockovich’s lecture the evening of March 24.

For more details, including the complete schedule and presenter bios, visit https://www.viterbo.edu/agnes-wh-tan-science-symposium/symposium-schedule-and-presenters.

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