Eastern alum Col. Robert Sinkler will return to Eastern to talk about the different Army Environmental Division projects he has worked on after graduating from Eastern in 1983.

Sinkler’s talk, “Solving the Nation’s Toughest Geology and Geography Problems,” will take place at 4 p.m. Friday in the Phipps Lecture Hall Room 1205 of the Physical Sciences Building.

Michael Cornebise, the chairman for the geology/geography department, said Sinkler received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Eastern while participating in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

After graduating, Sinkler joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Since that time, he has been involved in several important projects,” Cornebise said.

Cornebise said Sinkler took command of the Hurricane Protection Office in New Orleans in 2009.

While Sinkler was in New Orleans, Cornebise said he was in charge of building levies to help prevent flooding.

The levies were a part of the $14.4 billion Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Systems.

Cornebise said Sinkler is now posted at the Pentagon.

“It’s one of the top environmental positions in the military,” Cornebise said.

Cornebise said this lecture is a part of their colloquium series.

“This will be good for students, not only in our field, but in other programs, like the military or engineering,” he said.

He said the series consists of three or four speakers, who will share some of their experiences and research with students.

Cornebise said it is important for students to learn about their possible fields.

“They will see ways that he deals with issues in his employment, his day to day work,” Cornesbise said.

He said it will help students think about future career opportunities.

“This will give them the sense of what is available as a career in their field to pursue after they graduate,” Cornebise said.

Cornebise said he is excited to hear about the other projects Sinkler has worked on.

“I’m looking forward to hearing about his experiences because I had a chance to talk to him briefly and he has done a lot of interesting things,” Sinkler said. “I just want to hear more about that.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.