With expertise on woods and water, alumnus returns for Green Innovations
One of the bragging rights of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is its strong history of educating students in their understanding of the delicate balance between economic prosperity and environmental sensitivity.
Doug McLaughlin, who received a UW-Green Bay undergraduate degree in Science and Environmental Change in 1983 and a master’s degree in 1985 in Environmental Science and Policy, is a star example. Much respected in his field, he has spent the large part of his career providing environmental insight to paper manufacturing and forestry companies across the United States.
On April 23, he will share his expertise with a UW-Green Bay and regional audience,as one of the presenters at the “Green Innovations 2010: Realizing our Sustainable Future” event. McLaughlin will join others in a presentation regarding water management, particularly the Fox River cleanup. His presentation will focus on the role of environmental monitoring in reaching a sustainable water resources future for the Fox River/Green Bay area and beyond. The event is sponsored by UW-Green Bay’s Environmental Management and Business Institute, and takes place April 22 and 23.
“It’s a very satisfying career because I’m working on the front line of efforts to develop a better understanding of how to balance economic and environmental (especially water quality) needs, which is the key to achieving a sustainable future, McLaughlin said.
“UW-Green Bay’s environmental science program helped me see the need, and also helped me begin to understand how science can be applied to support better management decisions in a very challenging area. I couldn’t have put all the pieces together without UWGB’s combination of mission, size, professors and location.”
McLaughlin received his Ph.D. in 1994 from UW-Madison, where his research focused on polychlorinated biphenyls in aquatic sediments. He worked for a time as an environmental scientist at Fort Howard Corporation. He now serves as a principal research scientist for the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) — an independent, non-profit research institute that focuses on environmental topics of interest to the forest products industry — located on the Western Michigan University campus in Kalamazoo, Mich.
See McLaughlin and a strong field of other speakers, including international experts and local panelists, at Green Innovations 2010, April 22-23. More information and opportunities to register can be found on the Green Innovations website.
