Environmental Lecture Series: “Taking the Pulse of Lake Erie”

Dr. Thomas Bridgeman will discuss “Taking the Pulse of Lake Erie” as part of the Environmental Lecture Series on Tuesday, July 9 at 1:30 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.

In the decade following the Toledo Water Crisis, harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Erie have become a topic of intense research with Ohio and Michigan universities and agencies becoming national leaders in HAB studies. HAB research aims to understand how blooms form and become toxic, predict and prevent HABs in a changing climate, and protect drinking water supplies and human health. This lecture will present recent Lake Erie research highlights and a bold new idea for reducing HABs in Lake Erie.

Bridgeman is a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Toledo and the Director of the UToledo Lake Erie Center. His research centers on environmental challenges facing Lake Erie, especially HABs and “dead zones.”

His work includes improved bloom monitoring technology for drinking water treatment plants and the influence of episodic hypoxia, river plumes and lake sediments on the growth of HABs. Funding sources for his research have included NSF, NIH, NOAA, USEPA, USACE and Ohio Dept. of Higher Education (ODHE). Bridgeman currently serves as an advisor to ODHE’s Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative (HABRI) and as past president of the Lake Erie Area Research Network (LEARN).

He earned degrees from Miami University, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan (PhD).