MEDIA CONTACT: Lisa Freed
561-297-3022, lfreed@fau.edu

FAU Presents Edie Widder
to Speak About 'Seeing the Secret Lights in the Sea'

BOCA RATON, FL (January 17, 2006) - Florida Atlantic University presents Dr. Edith "Edie" Widder, senior scientist and co-principal investigator of bioluminescence research at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI), who will lecture on her life as a deep-sea adventurer. The presentation will take place Thursday, January 19 at 3:30 p.m. in the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Center, room 126.

Widder has been exploring the depths of the ocean using deep-diving submersibles since 1984. She will share her fascinating stories and unique video footage of how she uses glow-in-the-dark creatures to help protect the Indian River Lagoon, which encompasses more than 30 percent of Florida's Atlantic coastline.

Widder, who joined HBOI in 1989, also holds adjunct appointments at John Hopkins University, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, FAU and the Florida Institute of Technology. She also is the developer of Eye-in-the-Sea, a deep-sea observatory designed to record bioluminescence behaviors in the ocean.

Widder is a co-creator of the patent HIDEX-BP, an instrument system that has become the standard in the U.S. Navy for measuring bioluminescence in the world's oceans. She also authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as "The Bioluminescence Coloring Book" for children.

The Frontiers in Science Spring 2006 Public Lecture Series is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, supported by FAU's Lifelong Learning Society Endowed Professorship.

For more information, contact Patsy Jones at 561-297-1307 or patsyj@fau.edu.

-FAU-