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Lawrence Malinconico, associate professor of geology and environmental geosciences, will speak on “Where is Osama? The Geology and Culture of Northern Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan” noon Friday in Van Wickle Hall room 108.
Lunch will be provided free of charge for students and at a $3 cost for faculty and staff.
Malinconico spent seven years conducting research in the Northwest frontier province of Pakistan, collecting gravity and magnetic measurements to study the structure of the suture zone between India and Asia.
“I have lot of pictures of the countryside, local life, the bazaars, etc. and I thought that it might be interesting to show our students what it was like working in the area, which is apparently very sympathetic to the al Qaida and is similar to the neighboring region of Afghanistan.”
Last year, PBS television featured Malinconico in “Volcano’s Deadly Warning,” a documentary in the acclaimed NOVA science series. The program premiered Nov. 12. Seen in more than 100 countries, NOVA is the most watched science television series in the world and the most watched documentary series on PBS.
He has involved Lafayette students in other research, including Sarah Gately ’03 (Mount Bethel, Pa.), who joined him and John Wilson, geology laboratory coordinator, in presenting research on geological data revealed by magnetic testing in East-Central Pennsylvania at the national meeting of Geological Society of America in Denver, Colo., Oct. 27-30, 2002. Gately’s research with Malinconico and two other Lafayette students was published in Abstracts: 2002 Geological Society of America Northeastern Section Meeting.
Malinconico has served as a consultant for a variety of clients, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the government of Kuwait, the Illinois Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, and several companies and institutions. He has received 29 grants totaling more than $1.3 million for research, curricular innovation, and facilities improvement.