[media-credit name=’MATTHEW KUTZ/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Kicking off the first of several lectures addressing global sustainability, former Director of the National Science Foundation Dr. Rita Colwell spoke on water pollution and human health at the Memorial Union Monday.

During her career, Colwell has accomplished many things in the scientific world, including the discovery of marine plankton as natural reservoirs of epidemic cholera.

Colwell, a Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins University, spoke on worldwide issues concerning infectious diseases and improving methods to contain them.

"Infectious disease cause[s] about a quarter of all deaths world wide," Colwell said.

According to Colwell, the spread of infectious disease throughout the world is exacerbated by frequent contact between people from different regions of the world.

"International travel has skyrocketed in the past half century up to almost 500 million international arrivals per year," she said, adding human travel has had adverse effects on not only the human population, but also other animals.

"Hawaii has lost about three-fourths of its bird species due to extinction since humans have arrived," she said.

Though infectious disease continues to spread across the world, Colwell said the world responds to such dangers in a timely fashion.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — originating in China during 2003 — took the lives of many people, but "[the] world's response to the virus was swift," she said.

The barrage of infectious diseases across the globe requires more than speedy responses Colwell said, asserting they need to be well understood to prevent potentially horrific outbreaks.

The task of understanding infectious disease requires close scientific study and "demands observing in multiple scales," she said.

Colwell added that observation of infectious disease entails more than looking under a microscope, as many viruses have the ability to change with the earth's climate.

"Infectious disease is a moving target," Colwell said. "As climates shift, any disease with an environmental vector will be affected."

Although there are multiple complications associated with infectious disease, Colwell said scientific methods help predict and possibly thwart outbreaks.

Studies regarding cholera — the water-based ailment which Colwell has done extensive work on throughout her career — has advanced to the point where scientists can predict "where, when and how intense [the outbreaks] will be," she said.

Occurrences of Cholera may be more predictable and treatable, but, according to Colwell, changing times have brought new diseases that threaten the world's health. Considering this notion, Colwell expressed a need to update world protocol for handling potential epidemics.

"Yesterday the world's headlines focused on SARS, today the focus is on avian influenza," Colwell said. "We need an immunization strategy and an alerted public."

Colwell left attendees intrigued by her accomplishments as a marine microbiologist and epidemiologist.

"The discoveries she has made about infectious diseases are amazing," University of Wisconsin sophomore Ross Eggers said.

UW graduate student Andrew Stuhl agreed Colwell's lecture was inspirational and said he appreciated her effort to advance science and protect human health.

"It's great to have leaders in the field here to show students that drive and passion can inspire change," Stuhl said.