Bruce Lund, the Moapa Valley community coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, will discuss why public agencies, conservation organizations, and rural communities are often at odds with each other regarding conservation issues - despite their similar interests in preserving the desert. His Feb. 3 lecture, "Finding Common Conservation Ground in the Mojave Desert," will also address efforts to build consensus among the groups.

On Feb. 7, UNLV physics professor Donna Weistrop will present an illustrated-lecture on "Recent Observations With the Hubble Space Telescope: Colliding Galaxies and Active Galaxy Nuclei."

Weistrop has been associated with the Hubble Space Telescope project since 1985. In her presentation, she will discuss her research on the center of active galaxies, the presence of very large black holes in galaxies, and the effect of galaxy collisions on star formation.

Both lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History. All University Forum lectures are free and open to the public.

The University Forum lecture series is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and is underwritten by the UNLV Foundation. For more information on the series, call 895-3401.