On November 18, 2004, the Northeastern North Carolina Chapter of the IEEE-Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society continued its Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Phillip Dustan of the College of Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Dustan is a coral reef ecologist specializing in the ecology, photophysiology, and vitality of corals and coral reef communities. His presentation was titled "Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs and Change Detection" and was focused on recent coral reef research and conservation efforts including the use of satellite imagery to detect coral reef change.

The Lectures Series was also joined with a Partners Strategy Session on building collaboration between minority and majority universities utilizing remote sensing. Dr. Julie Williams of the University of New Hampshire spoke on the building a national model and Mr. James Harrington, Director of the MU-SPIN Office of Goddard Space Flight Center, spoke on the involvement of minority institutions in the NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN).

Another speaker, Dr. Robert George, Professor of Marine Ecology and President of George Institute for Biodiversity Sustainability (GIBS), spoke on the global warming affect on coral reefs with an emphasis on the North Carolina coast. Dr. George is a marine conservation biologist and a biological oceanographer, who since his retirement from academia in 2003, has focused on deep-sea coral reefs and seamounts.