U of M to host Minnesota Sparks event in Cloquet

Northeastern Minnesota residents can hear from University of Minnesota researchers and talk with them about how they're tackling some of the area's most pressing issues on Tuesday, April 3. The event, hosted by Regent David McMillan, is part of the 2018 Minnesota Sparks series at the Cloquet Forestry Center, 175 University Road, Cloquet. 

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., presentations and Q&A discussions are held from 6–7:15 p.m., followed by an open social hour. Minnesota Sparks is free of charge, and all are welcome to attend. Registration is encouraged. To register, visit https://z.umn.edu/SparksinCloquet or contact Steve Davis with the U of M Alumni Association at 612-625-5156.

Minnesota Sparks in Cloquet features three University of Minnesota researchers:

• Eli Sagor: A report from the Minnesota woods
  Think about your favorite place in Minnesota. Chances are the view includes trees. Those trees provide wildlife habitat, timber, beauty, and a unique sense of place. They may seem timeless, but our forests are continually changing. We'll talk about those changes, driven by little green bugs, warming winters, and how research can help us understand how forests are responding to changes and what we can do to keep them healthy, productive, and beautiful for decades to come. Sagor is an associate Extension professor who manages the Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative based at the University’s Cloquet Forestry Center.
• Jessica Hellmann:Surviving and thriving in a changing climate
  Our climate is changing, but there is a strategy in the struggle to address these changes that is often overlooked or under-appreciated: adaptation. Hellmann is the director of the Institute on the Environment and a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota. 

• Julie Etterson: Forever Green: Perennial Profits and Beyond
  Project Baseline is a seed bank that offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine spatial and temporal dimensions of microevolution during an era of rapid environmental change. Over the upcoming 50 years, biologists will withdraw genetically representative samples of past populations from this time capsule of seeds and grow them contemporaneously with modern samples to detect any phenotypic and molecular evolution that has occurred during the intervening time. Dr. Etterson is a professor in the Biology Department at UMD’s Swenson College of Science and Engineering.

Minnesota Sparks in Cloquet is part of a larger series of Minnesota Sparks events throughout the state.

Media note: Media are welcome to attend any or all of the event. Please RSVP to the University News Service, 612-624-5551, [email protected]. Interviews with presenting faculty are available.