Climate change and the diminishing Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will be the topic of UB’s annual Cowper Lecture on Feb. 20.

The lecture, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Geology, will take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Screening Room, 112 Center for the Arts, North Campus. A reception will follow the lecture.

Delivering the lecture, titled “The Quest for the Earth’s Fastest Ice,” will be Jesse V. Johnson, professor  in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Montana and the leading contributor to numerical ice sheet modeling efforts focused on seal level rise.

Johnson is co-founder of the Snow, ice and Climate Group at the University of Montana and has published more than 20 papers and delivered 50 talks on the subject of ice sheet dynamics.