IUPUI School of Science alumnus and internationally recognized researcher Eric Hiatt, Ph.D., presented at the 7th Annual Drs. Arthur and Patricia Mirsky Lecture. An award-winning professor at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, Hiatt presented "Earth's Last Global Ice Age: Biosphere and Geosphere Interactions on an Ice-Covered World” at the April 9 event.
Hiatt discussed seafloor biochemical processes during the last global snowball earth ice age. His lecture explored biosphere and geosphere interactions on an ice-covered world.
Hiatt specializes in understanding connections between oceans, life, and the Earth through time. Modern and ancient oceans, environments, and how the Earth and the biosphere have co-evolved are at the core of his interests. He teaches oceanography and sedimentary geology-related courses, as well as field courses in Bermuda and the Florida Keys.
Hiatt’s research and fieldwork, including studies of early life, oceanography of Earth's early oceans, analysis of ancient sedimentary basins, has taken him to the western U.S. and Alaska, Canada, Brazil and Guyana, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. He is currently collaborating on research with colleagues in Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand. He recently completed a Fulbright Fellowship and visiting professorship in Brazil, and was a visiting professor at both Canterbury University, New Zealand, and Acadia University, Canada.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in geology from IUPUI in 1988, Hiatt worked as a scientist at the USGS in Denver (isotope geochemist) and Texaco Exploration Division in Houston (sedimentary geochemist), and received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1997.
About the Drs. Arthur and Patricia Mirsky Memorial Lecture Series
Arthur Mirsky, Ph.D. (1927-2012) served as a field geologist and consultant in uranium exploration in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains before coming to IUPUI in 1967 to start a new geology program. He proudly served the Department of Earth Sciences even after his retirement in 1993, including a 26-year stint as the first faculty chair and then as a professor emeritus.
As an honor to Dr. Mirsky and his wife, Patricia, the department established the annual Drs. Arthur and Patricia Mirsky Memorial Lecture in 2013.