Join Liz Smith and Mike Forsberg for an informal coffee hour in the library's Riverside Cafe. This is your chance to chat with two of the world’s experts in their respective fields.

Liz Smith

Dr. Liz Smith is a native Texan where she encountered her first Whooping Crane family at the age of ten as they wintered within the protected coastal marsh ecosystem. Her motivation to follow a scientific career was based on a love and curiosity of the natural world and how she could contribute to save it. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees at Corpus Christi State University and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in biology and wildlife sciences. Liz served as Research Scientist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi for 17 years working with her graduate students on coastal habitat assessment and conservation planning. Liz joined the International Crane Foundation in 2011 as Senior Whooping Crane Scientist as well as the Texas and North American Program Director until her retirement in 2022. She continues working as an ICF Sr. Research Associate using crane behavior to both assess habitat health and educating human communities on ways to share coastal habitat with cranes.

Michael Forsberg

Michael Forsberg was born and raised in Nebraska and has been a professional photographer for 30 years. His books, articles and films focus on wildlife and conservation stories in the Great Plains. Mike is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, co-founder of Platte Basin Timelapse and on faculty with IANR at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2017, he received the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club in Washington DC, and his image of sandhill cranes was selected as a U.S. postage stamp for Nebraska’s Sesquicentennial. Mike lives in Lincoln with his wife Patty, two daughters, Elsa and Emme, and a menagerie of animals.