Ronadh Cox to Deliver Second Lecture in Oceans Symposium Series

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., February 15, 2012– The Oceans Symposium at Williams College will continue on Tuesday, Feb. 21, with a lecture given by Professor of Geosciences Ronadh Cox, titled “Boulder Ideas: Storm Waves Can Move Megagravel on Cliff Tops of the Aran Islands, Ireland.” The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. in Thompson Biology, room 112. The event is free and open to the public.
In her talk, Cox will describe her research investigating whether piles of enormous boulders on Irish seaside cliffs can be put there by modern storm waves or whether a tsunami is needed to move them. This research is essential in helping scientists better understand the effects of storms and tsunamis.
Cox is a professor of geosciences and the chair of the maritime studies program at Williams College. She has taught courses including Oceanography, Climates through Time, Sedimentation, “The Test-Tube Earth”: Introduction to Geochemistry, and tutorials such as Planetary Geology and Coral Reefs.
Cox’s research interests include sedimentology, geochemistry, sedimentary petrology, and geochronology and impacts into planetary surfaces. Her work has been published in the Journal of Geology, Geological Society of America Bulletin, Geology, and Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
Cox received her B.Sc. from University College Dublin in 1985 and her Ph.D. from Stanford in 1993.
The next speaker in the Oceans Symposium will be Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer at The New Yorker, who will lead a discussion following the showing of the film A Sea Change, Imagine a World without Fish on Feb. 27.
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