Events

Join us for the second installment of our “Faces and Places of the Chihuahuan Desert” Lecture Series!

Free event, no RSVP required. Join us after the talk for Q&A and refreshments

Our latest will be led by Robert Rohrbaugh and will focus on how water and geology have shaped the El Paso identity. Paso del Norte (Pass of the North), the original name for the modern city of El Paso, has a meaning and history far deeper and older than humanity itself. The human history of the Borderland region is tied to a singular, flowing factor: water. Tapping into the geologically-induced Borderland water supply creates an ironic dilemma for our modern civilization: water creates all of our energy sources (electricity and diesel/gasoline), but the energy is required to obtain and utilize all of our water.

Professional geologist Robert Rohbaugh has been a Geology instructor at El Paso Community College (EPCC) since 2008. The native El Pasoan obtained his Master’s Degree at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in Geoscience. He is the founder and coordinator of Geo-Ventures El Paso, an organization that offers geology tours for EPCC, UTEP, and the wider El Paso-area community. He is also the coordinator for the Border to Beltway Field Exchange Program, a partnership with Virginia Community College that enables students to study different geologic provinces in the United States.