<html>
<body>
The open reception, catered by the Faculty Club, begins at 6 pm in the
foyer of the Tang Center, E51. The lecture follows in
the Wong Auditorium at 7 pm. <br><br>
<div align="center"><font size=4 color="#FF0000"><i>Annual John R.
Freeman Lecture<br><br>
</i></font><font size=6 color="#FF0000"><b>Saving Venice from High
Tides:<br>
The Case for Mobile Gates<br><br>
</b></font></div>
<font color="#FF0000">Date:</font> Tuesday April 6<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Reception:</font> 6 pm<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Lecture:</font> 7 pm<br><br>
<font color="#008000">No Admission Charge<br><br>
</font><font color="#FF0000">Location:</font> MIT Tang Center<br>
70 Memorial Drive, (Bldg. E51), Cambridge<br><br>
For directions, visit
<a href="http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg" eudora="autourl">http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg</a><br><br>
Public parking is available in the Cambridge Center/Marriott Garage, with
entrances on Broadway and Ames Streets.<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Speakers: </font>Professors Donald R. F. Harleman
and Rafael L. Bras, MIT Dept. Civil and Environmental
Engineering<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Abstract: </font>Profs. Harleman and Bras are
members of an international panel that advises the Venice Water Authority
and its operating arm, Consorzio Venezia Nuova, on issues related to the
protection of the lagoon and city of Venice against flooding from high
tides. In particular they have provided guidance on environmental issues
and engineering of the “mobile gates”. This plan for a series of 79 gates
that float into position, when needed, to separate the Adriatic tides
from the lagoon is under construction since last May at a cost of about
three billion dollars. Issues to be addressed are environmental impacts,
sea level rise and innovative engineering. The speakers will also speak
to alternative solutions that have been considered. <br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Co-sponsored by:<br>
</font>The Hydraulics and Water Resources Group<br>
Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section, ASCE<br><br>
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br><br>
<br>
<font color="#FF0000">See the web site for details:
</font><a href="http://ceemeng.mit.edu/Freeman_Lecture_2004.html" eudora="autourl">http://ceemeng.mit.edu/Freeman_Lecture_2004.html</a><br><br>
For more information about the event, call Gayle Sherman,
452-3022.<br><br>
</body>
</html>