Kaustubh Thirumalai 
(Geological Sciences graduate program)

will present

"Ocean Drilling for Ancient Climate Change: Using Microfossils as Time Machines"

"Mankind started measuring temperature and rainfall only a hundred years ago or so, with varying degrees of quality until the satellite era. The Earth has been around for much, much longer than a hundred years! What about climate before that? How do we know about climate change on geological time scales? Why is it important? Can that knowledge tell us anything about future climate?

In this talk, I will start by giving an introduction to paleoclimatology. Next, I will talk about my specific research which involves using plankton shells and their chemistry to understand about ocean temperature and salinity in the past. Lastly, I will briefly summarize a recent field expedition where I spent two months on the drillship, JOIDES Resolution with 30 other scientists to investigate the history of Indian Monsoon rainfall."

Science Under the Stars is a free, monthly public outreach lecture series founded and organized by graduate students in the Department of Integrative Biology at The University of Texas at Austin. Our goals are to host fun, informal science outreach events for Austin citizens of all ages, and give scientists a venue to share their work with the general public. Events are held at 8:00pm outdoors at Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703 during the Fall and Spring academic semesters. In the case of inclement weather, lectures are held indoors. Arrive early for refreshments and fun activities for kids of all ages!