Larry Allen

Larry Allen, Docent, the UA Tree-Ring Laboratory

Wednesday, November 2, 2022,

2:30-3:30 pm,

ASA Koffler Great Room

Among the many unique and outstanding programs of the University of Arizona is its Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, established in 1937 by A.E. Douglass, founder of the modern science of dendrochronology.  It is currently the largest tree-ring research institute in the world.  

Volunteer Docent Larry Allen will review for us the history of dendrochronology at the University of Arizona.  He’ll explain the basic principles of using tree rings for research and delve into some of the many Tree-Ring Laboratory research programs, which include fire history and fire ecology, paleoclimatology, archaeology, and biogeography. Some of the more esoteric fields it serves are isotope geochemistry, paleoecology, biogeochemistry, and geomorphology. It also supports programs in numerical and statistical modeling and even public health.

Residents may remember the 2019 lecture by the Tree-Ring Laboratory’s Director, Dr. David Frank, “The Role of Water in Limiting Forest Growth,” or the one from 2021 by biogeographer and ecologist Dr. Erin Riordan, “A New Model for Desert Food Production in a Warming, Drying World.”

Larry Allen is a retired executive from Air Products & Chemicals with extensive management experience globally and domestically. In 2009 he retired to Tucson with his wife, Susan. Besides volunteering as a docent at the Tree-Ring Laboratory he was previously a docent at the Steward Planetarium. Larry is on the Steward Astronomy Board and a member of the Galileo Society, which provides scholarships for students in the College of Science. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron. 

The Tree Ring-Lab is open to the public for guided tours.  This lecture is scheduled in connection with a tour arranged for November 16, 2022 by the AV Activities Committee and the ASA.  Although this tour is already fully enrolled, you may contact Martha Wolpert ([email protected]) for information on possible additional AV/ASA tours.

Preview compiled and edited by Suzanne Ferguson, Academy Village Volunteer

Nov 2: “The Tree-Ring Laboratory at the University of Arizona”