Maria R D'Orsogna

Prof. Maria D'Orsogna is an Italian-American physicist and math professor. After learning serendipitously of planned oil drilling in her home region of Abruzzo, Italy she also became a hands-on environmental activist, leading a grassroots movement that culminated in Italy passing, for the first time ever, a national ban against offshore drilling in coastal waters.

In this lecture, Prof. D' Orsogna will share her story of how one person, who armed with perseverance, humility and science, took on an almost impossible battle and prevailed. Maria traveled all over Italy in her quest to inform the general public against the perils of offshore drilling, debated Big Oil, exposed political corruption, and put pressure on decision makers to act for the common good. While in California she used social networks and blogging to coordinate letter writings and to spur action. Thanks to her efforts, in 2016, for the first time ever, the Italian Parliament imposed a no-drill zone of 12 miles encompassing all of Italy's 5,000 mile coastline.

Lunch will be provided.