California Academy of Sciences Offers
Biology Class To Global Community

SAN FRANCISCO (February 2, 1999) – Using the internet as an expanded classroom and professional scientists as teachers, the California Academy of Sciences presents BioForum, an all day seminar series that allows Bay Area educators and anyone with access to the internet to learn about the most current research and issues in conservation biology.

BioForum, a series now in its fourteenth year, features lectures followed by a panel discussion held at the California Academy of Sciences. This informative series created for high school science teachers offers educators an opportunity to expand their teaching curriculum, learn new ways to teach students, and interact directly with scientists. Teachers can recreate lessons learned at Bioforum in the classroom by logging onto the Academy’s World Wide Web site at http://www.calacademy.org. Created in collaboration with Genentech’s Access Excellence, the site gives educators access to video, audio slides and text transcripts of BioForum presentations, lecturer biographies, and links to related sites.

The next series will focus on Conservation Biology and will be held on Saturday, February 6, 1999 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Morrison Auditorium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The panel will be moderated by Tom Moritz, Head Librarian of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and member of the World Commission on Protected Areas, IUCN.

Featured Lectures include:

"Silence of the Clams: Reconstructing the history of the Colorado River using marine bivalves" Peter Roopnarine, Ph.D., Assistant Curator Invertebrate Zoology and Geology.

"Designing Nature Reserves: Past Present and Future" by Lance Craighead, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology, Montana State University, Research Director, Craighead Environmental Research Institute.

"Vietnam, What’s in a name?" Eleanor Sterling, Ph.D., International Program Director, Center for Biodiverstiy and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History.

For more information about BioForum, please call the Education Department at the California Academy of Sciences at (415) 750-7100 or email klundstrom@calacademy.org.