Marcia McNutt, Director, U.S. Geological Survey

Director Marcia McNutt is a distinguished scientist, administrator and the first woman director of the USGS in its 130-year history. Dr. McNutt is responsible for leading the Nation's largest water, earth, biological science and civilian mapping agency in its mission to provide the scientific data that enable decision makers to create sound policies for a changing world.

As a scientist, Dr. McNutt has participated in 15 major oceanographic expeditions and served as chief scientist on more than half of those voyages. Her research has ranged from studies of ocean island volcanism in French Polynesia to continental break-up in the Western United States to uplift of the Tibet Plateau. Dr. McNutt previously served as a president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute as well as the Griswold Professor of Geophysics at MIT and the Director of the Joint Program in Oceanography & Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, a collaboration of MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Dr. Peter Gleick, President, Pacific Institute for Studies in Development

The conference will open with a keynote presentation by Dr. Peter Gleick.  Dr. Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland, California.  He is an internationally recognized water expert and was named a MacArthur Fellow in October 2003 for his work.  

Dr. Gleick will speak about the Pacific Institute's work to address the global challenges of providing safe, clean and reliable water supplies under increasingly stressed conditions in many countries -- including the U.S.  In addition he will describe the concept of "peak water" which proposes that there are practical limits to the amount of water that can sustainably be extracted for different uses, a topic of interest given the context of California's ongoing water discussions.

Brian Fagan, Professor of Anthropology, Formerly of UC Santa Barbara

Our lunch speaker on Thursday will be Brian Fagan, Ph.D.   For those attendees who may have missed his dinner speech at our conference a few years back, Dr. Fagan is a former Professor of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara.  He has lived a full life with travels that have taken him to the far corners of the world.  All of his training and experiences come to life in an engaging speaking style.  His presentation on his book, The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, was mesmerizing.  Inspired by his experience speaking at our conference and conversations he had with conference attendees, Dr. Fagan wrote his newest book, Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind.  We are both honored and excited that he will be joining us once again.