Arne JacobsonWe are pleased to welcome Dr. Sharon Kramer of H.T. Harvey & Associates to campus as the first speaker in the Fall 2016 Sustainable Futures Speaker Series. Sharon will speak on Thursday, September 15 from 5:30 to 7:00 PM in the Art B building, room 102 on the HSU campus. The Art B building is located just to the east of the Van Duzer Theater. The title of her talk is “State of the Science on Environmental Issues and Marine Renewable Energy.”
Dr. Sharon Kramer is a principal at H. T. Harvey & Associates, and she heads its North Coast office and the Fish and Aquatic Ecology team. She has more than 25 years of experience in aquatic ecology and fisheries biology in the Pacific Northwest, California, Australia, and Hawai‘i. Sharon is well-versed in fish and aquatic habitat restoration and monitoring and project permitting, with extensive federal Endangered Species Act work. Her most recent focus has involved assessing and mitigating the environmental effects associated with marine renewable energy projects. Sharon has a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an M.S. in Zoology from the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa, and a B.A. in Aquatic Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Marine renewable energy, including wave energy and off-shore wind power, has great potential to contribute to the production of clean energy over the coming decades. Our region, including sites offshore along the California Coast north of Cape Mendocino and the Oregon Coast, has perhaps the best wave and off-shore wind resource potential in the continental United States. While the resource is excellent, challenges must be overcome to create reliable, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable marine renewable energy systems. Sharon has been a central player in efforts to address these challenges, with a focus on monitoring and addressing environmental issues associated with off-shore renewable energy systems. Her talk should be a very interesting and engaging one, and we encourage you to attend.
