Hazel Barton, Loper Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama, will present this year’s Grace Kimball Memorial Lecture, “Cave Microbiology: It’s Wild Down There,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, in Stark Learning Center 105. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Caves, by their nature, lack light and are isolated underground. Yet, it is the isolated, nutrient-limited nature of these environments that make them so fascinating to study. Caves contain remarkable and varied microbial communities, driven by the varied interactions and processes that allow survival from near-entrance conditions, influenced by sunlight and animals, to extremely low-nutrient conditions which have been in equilibrium for thousands of years. The results reveal microbial communities with novel biotechnological properties that may influence the formation of caves themselves, and provide clues to life on other planets or around other stars. The lecture will run about 50 minutes with a 10-minute Q&A session to follow.
Barton’s research is geared toward understanding microbial interactions and processes in cave environments. She has published over 100 articles and three patents on this work, along with co-editing two books: Women in Microbiology and Lechuguilla Cave: Discoveries in a Hidden Splendor.
Her work has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. National Park Service and NASA. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vice, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, National Geographic Explorer, Outside, Science News and on NPR, BBC Radio, Animal Planet, The History Channel, National Geographic and more.
She is an avid caver, having explored caves on six continents, and previously served as chair of the Board of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute. Barton is currently the education coordinator for the National Speleological Society Vertical Training Commission and an award-winning cave cartographer.
Barton is also a fellow of the NSS, a Kavli fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Science and past chair of the Committee on the Status of Women in Microbiology for the American Society for Microbiology. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the NSS Science Award, the Alice C. Evans Award for the advancement of Women in Science and is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
The Kimball Lecture is named for Grace Kimball, former professor of microbiology at Wilkes University. Lecturers are chosen by Wilkes University biology faculty as scientists who have distinguished themselves in evolutionary biology.
For more information, visit wilkes.edu/kimball.
