Al Gore's film to be shown April 14 The Department of Geology and Geological Engineering and the Dakota Science Center are co-sponsoring a film showing of Al Gore's academy award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 14, in the Empire Arts Center. Following the film will be a panel discussion including several local experts on the topics of climate change, sustainable energy, and local biological and economic impacts. Panelists include the following: * Michael Mann, professor and chair of chemical engineering, holds a Ph.D. in energy engineering, and was the recipient of the 2006 Thomas J. Clifford Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Research. He is a co-founder/investigator of SUNRISE, UND's sustainable energy research initiative. Dr. Mann's principal areas of interest and expertise include performance issues in advanced energy systems firing coal and biomass; renewable and sustainable energy systems with a focus on integration of fuel cells with renewable resources; emission control; and development of energy strategies based on thermodynamics and economics. * Ralph Kingsbury, president and senior researcher with Kingsbury Applied Economics, writes a weekly economics-based column for the Grand Forks Herald. In addition, he has completed several contracted economic research projects for various clients. His particular areas of interest are public and private economic research as it relates to North Dakota and the upper Midwest. He also concentrates his research in today's energy issues, especially as they relate to North Dakota's role in alternative energy and coal. Kingsbury is also an adjunct instructor for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and teaches economics courses at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. He was a Red River Valley farmer for 30 years. Previous to that he was first an instructor in economics and then director of institutional sesearch at UND. While associated with UND, Kingsbury was the author or part author of three published research reports. * Andrei Kirilenko, associate professor in the Earth System Science and Policy program, received his M.S. in applied mathematics in 1984 from Moscow State University and a Ph.D. in computer science from the Russian Academy of Science in 1990. His research interests are concentrated around environmental modeling and sustainability issues, especially the global and regional impacts of climate change. Dr. Kirilenko was invited to represent Russia as a lead author of the IPCC chapter on climate change impact on forestry, agriculture, fisheries, and ranges. The IPCC is a scientific group representing over 130 governments worldwide, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. * Gary Huschle, wildlife biologist at the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge for the past 15 years, retired two weeks ago. Prior to that he was at Devils Lake Wetland Management District in North Dakota for five years. He spent 10 years at the C. M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and two years working for the Bureau of Land Management in Safford Ariz. His degrees are from the University of Minnesota and University of Idaho. At Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge he was instrumental in initiating research projects on American bittern, least bittern, gray wolves, bog hydrology and invertebrate and cattail response to prescribed burning. He also initiated the intensive research project that looked into the demise of the moose population in Northwest Minnesota. * William Gosnold, professor of geophysics and chair of geology and geological engineering, earned a baccalaureate degree in physics from the State University of West Georgia in 1971 and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Geophysics from Southern Methodist University in 1977. He is currently directing a team of five scientists in an NSF-funded multidisciplinary project to quantify the causal components of climate change. He recently concluded an NSF-funded project to study terrestrial heat flow and climate change in Jordan in collaboration with Al Balqa University. Dr. Gosnold is custodian of the Global Heat Flow Data Base of the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC) of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI). He is a member of Sigma Xi, the American Geophysical Union, the European Geosciences Union, the Geological Society of America, and The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. In 2006 he received the highest award of the University of North Dakota, Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor. The event is free and open to the public.