In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr., Virginia Tech has a weeklong schedule to remember and honor the man who drove out hate and darkness through love and light. This year’s celebration theme is “Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere: The Legacy Between Two Movements.”

The schedule of events includes a special research seminar hosted by the Diversity Committee of the Biological Sciences Department featuring Dr. Tyrone Hayes. The lecture may be of particular interest to the Global Change community at Virginia Tech. In addition to his seminar, Dr. Hayes will meet with the fellows in the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP on Thursday, January 19th from 4-5:00 pm. Meeting location TBD.

From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads and Men

Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley

Friday, January 20, 2017; 12:20 p.m.

Biocomplexity Institute Auditorium

Dr. Tyrone Hayes is a distinguished scientist who is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkley. He received his B.S. from Harvard University (1989) and his Ph.D. in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley in 1993. After a brief post-doctoral fellowship at Berkeley, he was hired by the same department as a faculty member in 1994. Dr. Hayes has received a number of awards for his excellence in research, teaching and mentorship. He has an outstanding record of training undergrads, graduate students and post-docs from diverse backgrounds. His primary research focuses on the role of environmental factors on growth and development in amphibians. In particular, he focuses on the effects of herbicides, such as atrazine, on amphibian growth, development, reproduction and immune function and how these studies predict effects in other wildlife and humans.

Dr. Hayes’ research presentation will focus on endocrine disruption of development with emphasis on the role of agricultural chemicals that are widespread contaminants in soil, in water sources and in some drinking water. He will discuss how may pollutant problems are often focused on areas where underprivileged populations live and are most affected. The diversity parts of his presentation will honor Dr. Martin Luther King and will focus on the mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds

Host: Diversity Committee of the Biological Sciences Department 

Co-sponsors: Women & Minority Artists & Scholars Lecture Series, Virginia Tech Life Sciences Seminar, The Office of Inclusion & Diversity, College of Science Diversity Committee, College of Natural Resources & Environment, and Dept. of Biological Sciences