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CORVALLIS- Sharon Steingraber, an author and ecologist acclaimed for her work on environmental links between cancer and reproductive health, will speak at Oregon State University on Thursday, Oct. 24. Her free public lecture begins at 7:45 p.m. in Milam Auditorium.

The lecture, "Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood," is co-sponsored by The University Honors College and the OSU Department of Philosophy as part of the Ideas Matter lecture series, which honors the legacy of Rachel Carson and her book, "Silent Spring."

"Having Faith," Steingraber's latest work, is both a memoir of her recent pregnancy and an examination of fetal toxicity. It reveals the extent to which environmental hazards now threaten each stage of infant development.

Steingraber is the author of a book called, "Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment" that presents cancer as a human rights issue. The pioneering effort brought together data on toxic releases with newly released information on U.S. cancer statistics.

Steingraber also has written a collection of poetry, "Post Diagnosis."

In 1999, the Sierra Club equated her works with those of Rachel Carson, the late author of the book, "Silent Spring," which detailed the long-term health and environmental effects of misusing pesticides. In 2001, Carson's alma mater, Chatham College, selected Steingraber to receive its biennial Rachel Carson leadership award.

Steingraber served on President Clinton's National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. In 1997 she was named Ms. Magazine's "Woman of the Year." She is on the faculty at Cornell University's Center for the Environment in Ithaca, N.Y.