Dr. Marc Edwards addresses communities in crisis, public-inspired science and the land grant mission. WATCH NOW at video.wkar.org
Dr. Marc Edwards leads the Virginia Tech research team credited with revealing deadly lead contamination in the public water supply in Flint, Mich. Edwards spoke Feb. 25, 2016, at WKAR TV studios in the Communication Arts and Sciences building on the Michigan State University campus.
Edwards presents his talk, "How Jonathan Baldwin Turner Saved Flint, Mich.: Public-Inspired Science and the Modern Land-Grant University." Jonathan Turner, referenced in the title of Edwards' talk, is credited by many as the originator of the concept of the land grant university and its mission of public service.
As an expert in the chemistry and toxicity of urban water supplies in the United States, Edwards has made significant advances in many areas, including arsenic removal, coagulation of natural organic material, and the causes and control of copper and lead corrosion in new and aging distribution systems. He is expanding his research focus to cities in crisis such as Flint, Mich.
Edwards is The Charles P. Lunsford Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2007.
The program is available now for on demand viewing in the PBS App on Roku, XBox 360, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, on iPad/iPhone, and at video.wkar.org.
The talk is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University.