News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Aug. 19, 1998
Jan Harff of the Baltic Sea Research Institute and the University of Greifswald will present "Managing the Baltic: A Tale of Science, Environment, and Politics in the New Europe" at 7 p.m., August 31, in Alderson Auditorium at the Memorial Union at KU.
Harff will discuss the relationship between the Baltic nations since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and how political changes have affected environmental preservation, scientific studies, and everyday life in the region.
Harff's visit is being sponsored by the German-American Academic Council through a grant to the Kansas Geological Survey, based at KU.
Harff is a native of Gustrow, a north German town near the Baltic coast. He worked for the East German Academy of Science before German reunification, and in 1989 was the first East German scientist allowed to visit the U.S. as a private citizen when he served as visiting scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey. He now heads the division of marine geology at the Baltic Sea Research Institute and teaches oceanography and mathematical geology at the University of Greifswald.