Charles S. ReVelle, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, will present a seminar, "The Design of Nature Reserves -- an Eco-Informatics Discipline in Development," at Cornell on Oct. 25.

The seminar will begin at 4:30 p.m. in 162 Hollister Hall. The public is invited to attend without charge.

ReVelle, the Mary Shepard B. Upson Visiting Professor for Fall 2001 in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, received his doctorate in sanitary engineering from Cornell in 1967 and was on the Department of Environmental Systems Engineering faculty from 1967 to 1970. He has been at Johns Hopkins since 1971 and currently is part of the Program in Systems Analysis and Economics for Public Decision Making.

Over the years he has applied the methods of systems engineering, especially mathematical programming, to problems in many spheres, including water resources, water-quality management, the siting of emergency services, transportation network design, epidemiology, the design of nature reserves and forestry management science.

The seminar will explore the new field of spatial inquiry, which in the past 15 years has emerged to include the design and selection of nature reserves for the conservation of species, landscapes and ecological systems. The new field intersects sharply with an older line of study, discrete location science.