She will speak about her globe-spanning research into “Soils, Soil Biodiversity and Sustainability” at 4 p.m. in Rauch Planetarium on Belknap Campus.

The director of Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Wall has documented fragile soil ecosystems and their role in climate change. Her work has extended for more than two decades from Antarctica’s deserts, where Wall Valley is named after her, to Kansas plains and New York City’s Central Park. She studies species such as the small, wormlike nematodes that live in soil. Her research explores how biodiversity contributes to healthy soil and how human activities affect soil sustainability.

Wall’s work earned for her the 2013 Tyler prize for environmental achievement, a $200,000 award University of Southern California administers and grants for accomplishments in environmental science, environmental health and energy.

She is a guest of the UofL biology department’s Brown & Williamson lecture series.

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Judy Hughes
Judy Hughes is a senior communications and marketing coordinator for UofL’s Office of Communications and Marketing and associate editor of UofL Magazine. She previously worked in news as a writer and editor for a daily newspaper and The Associated Press.