David Epel to deliver the 2006 Ed Ricketts Lecture in Seaside on March 4

David Epel, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, has been named recipient of the 2006 Ed Ricketts Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in marine science. Presented by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the annual award honors those who have done exemplary work throughout their career and advanced the field of marine science.

Epel will deliver the Ricketts Memorial Lecture at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4, during a sanctuary symposium at California State University-Monterey Bay, University Center, Sixth Street, Seaside. The symposium and lecture are free and open to the public.

Epel's lecture is titled "Lessons Learned: How Worldwide Pollution Happened in the Past, How It's Happening Again and a Solution for the Future." The symposium, which focuses on marine protected areas, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Epel holds the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professorship in Marine Sciences at Stanford. In announcing the award, sanctuary officials recognized him for "excelling in natural history and teaching" and for his "long and distinguished career in the field of developmental biology. … The recent work of Dave and his lab shows that everyday household pharmaceuticals and other chemicals are finding their way into the marine environment and having ecological impacts that no one could have predicted. This should be of interest to everyone, scientists and the general public alike."

For more information on the symposium and lecture, visit http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov or contact Liz Love at (831) 647-4255 or liz.love@noaa.gov.

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