Program
Lectures

Lectures

Signature talks at GSA Connects 2025.

A man presents at a podium in front of a crowd.

Lectures & Addresses at a Glance

Attend these lectures and engage with big ideas in geoscience.

Presidential Address

Nathan A. Niemi, GSA President

2025 Michel T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecture

Comparing Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of Electricity Generation Systems with Michael Young

More details below.

Special Lectures

  • Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture | Grant Ferguson
  • GSA Hydrogeology Division Birdsall-Dreiss and Lamoreaux International Distinguished Lecture Series | M. Bayani Cardenas
  • GSA James B. Thompson, Jr. Distinguished International Lectureship | Kathy Benison
  • GSA James B. Thompson, Jr. Distinguished International Lectureship | Maria Rose Petrizzo
  • GSA Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanology Division Awards Session
  • MSA 2025 Awards Lectures and Presidential Address

More details below.

Noontime Lectures

All lectures start at 12:15 p.m. in Stars at Night Ballroom 2 & 3.

  • Sunday: GSA Presidential Address and Awards Ceremony | Nathan Niemi
  • Monday: Ron Nirenberg
  • Tuesday: Michel T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecture | Michael H. Young
  • Wednesday: Elizabeth Rampe


Special Lectures

Connect with leading voices shaping the future of geoscience.

Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture | Grant Ferguson

The Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture Series is sponsored by the National Groundwater Association. The Darcy Lecturer in Groundwater Science fosters interest and excellence in groundwater science and technology. Each year, a panel of scientists and engineers invites an outstanding groundwater professional to share his or her work with their peers and students through this lecture series.

Birdsall-Dreiss Lecturer | M. Bayani Cardenas

The GSA Hydrogeology Division Birdsall-Dreiss and Lamoreaux International Distinguished Lecture Series lecturer is selected based on outstanding contributions to hydrogeology or a closely related field through original research and public communication, and the potential for continued contributions to the profession.

Thompson Lecture (outgoing) | Kathy Benison

The outgoing GSA James B. Thompson, Jr. Distinguished International Lecturer, Kathy Benison, is a dynamic speaker of established scientific stature living within North America who can present stimulating and cutting edge geoscience research through lectures outside of North America on topics that are at the forefront of research to raise visibility for The Geological Society of America within the international geoscience community.

Thompson Lecture (incoming) | Maria Rose Petrizzo

The incoming GSA James B. Thompson, Jr. Distinguished International Lecturer, Maria Rose Petrizzo, is a dynamic speaker of established scientific stature living outside of North America who can present stimulating and cutting edge geoscience research through lectures in North America on topics that are at the forefront of research to raise visibility for The Geological Society of America within the U.S. geoscience community.

MGPV Division Awards

The GSA Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanology Division honors their 2024 student research, Distinguished Geological Career (DGCA), and Early Geological Career (EGCA) awardees.

MSA 2025 Awards Lectures

This year's four Awardees for the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) will present lectures on the topics of their choice. The lectures will be followed by the Presidential Address.

Halbouty Distinguished Lecture

Michael Young

Comparing Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of Electricity Generation Systems

What are the all-in costs—environmental and economic—of expanding and operating an electrical grid for Texas, and how might these costs change over the next 30 years? Can we quantify trade-offs among society’s goals of (1) providing reliable and affordable energy; (2) mitigating climate change; and (3) ensuring affordability for consumers? These trade-offs can be evaluated through comparative life-cycle assessments (LCA) of different generation systems that feature 18 different environmental pathways, including greenhouse gases (CO2eq) and local emissions (particulate matter, SOX, NOX); land and water use and pollution; and biodiversity and ecosystem impacts. These LCA analyses consider extraction of natural resources (gas, minerals, etc.), manufacturing of generation equipment, power plant operations, and end-of-life options (e.g., landfilling or recycling of equipment).

In this talk, we’ll show how environmental impacts manifest along global supply chains for materials (e.g., lithium, cobalt, etc.) at different times during the 30-year lifespan of facilities that support energy development. We connect every operating facility, using different generation mixes, in a nodal-scale, grid dispatch model that allows us to track grid reliability (goal #1), improvements in environmental performance (goal #2), and differences in consumer cost of electricity (goal #3). The results show the complicated nature of impacts along the global supply chain of materials needed for energy development and electricity generation, and they point to areas where impacts can be mitigated through innovation and action.

Michael Young headshot

Contact

Have questions? Contact us below!

GSA Meetings Department

meetings@geosociety.org
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