Life on the Edge: Talk on Hydrothermal Vents

Harvard biologist Peter Girguis to present "Life on the Edge" Sept. 25Peter Girguis, assistant professor at Harvard University, will present a public lecture, "Life on the Edge: Three Decades of Discovery at Hydrothermal Vents" at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 25 in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall.

The lecture, sponsored by the departments of Geosciences and Biology, is part of the Distinguished Lecturer Series of Ridge 2000, a multidisciplinary program that integrates geosciences and biosciences, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Girguis is an assistant professor in the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology department at Harvard. His research focuses on deep-sea marine microbial physiology, in particular how microbes mediate carbon and nitrogen cycling at hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps. He is also involved in developing new deep-sea sensor technologies such as underwater mass spectrometers.

He received his B.Sc. from the University of California at Los Angeles and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His dissertation examined how environmental conditions affect the metabolism of Riftia pachyptila (a vent tubeworm) and its symbionts. He was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, where he studied microbial methane metabolism and was expedition leader on numerous dives in the Monterey canyon and the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

Girguis has participated in numerous vent expeditions, and has enjoyed several dives in the DSV Alvin, including one to the middle of nowhere (thanks to a bad map). When hes not at sea, he spends much of his time fixing broken gadgets and wondering where the day went.