MCLA Alumnus to Deliver Vadnais Lecture on Offshore Wind

September 23, 2026

Max Roman Dilthey of the University of Massachusetts Amherst will present the Fall 2026 Elizabeth and Lawrence Vadnais Environmental Issues Lecture, "Solving Impossible Problems in Offshore Wind," at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in the first-floor atrium of MCLA's Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation. A reception celebrating the gift of a painting from local artist Sarah Sutro to the Environmental Studies Department will be held at 6 p.m. in the building's second-floor atrium.

Dilthey is program manager and curriculum lead for the UMass Offshore Wind Professional Certificate, where he leads instruction for all three of the program's courses. He has 12 years of experience developing the curriculum on renewable energy, sustainability and the environment, and 10 years of experience working in the renewable energy sector.

"Offshore wind megaprojects are poised to power millions of U.S. homes, right where electricity demand is highest," Dilthey wrote in his description of the lecture. "But building these wind farms requires years of coordination between hundreds of entities: private developers, governments, local communities and more. Tackling these impossibly complex projects requires the highest levels of strategic problem solving. Could offshore wind provide a template for tackling the world's most difficult climate and policy challenges?"

The annual lecture series is named for MCLA Professor Emeritus Lawrence H. Vadnais and is sponsored by the Vadnais Endowment.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call MCLA's Office of Institutional Advancement at 413-662-5224 or email advancement@mcla.edu.


About MCLA

The Commonwealth’s designated public liberal arts college, MCLA offers the personal attention of a private college at a public tuition, with more than 90 academic programs and faculty who know their students and invest in their success. Nearly half of MCLA students are the first in their families to attend college—a commitment to access and opportunity reflected in its ranking of #4 among public institutions nationally for social mobility and #13 among public liberal arts colleges (U.S. News & World Report, 2027).
Founded in 1894, MCLA is located in North Adams, in the heart of the Berkshires—just a 10-minute walk from MASS MoCA and surrounded by world-class performing arts, thousands of acres of protected land, and Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts.