December 19, 2008

Transition

Obama Picks Science Adviser

Harvard University professor John Holdren has background in climate change, energy

Cheryl Hogue

President-Elect Barack Obama is expected to tap John P. Holdren, a Harvard University professor who is an expert in energy and climate change, as his science adviser. The announcement is expected to be made on Dec. 20, according to Harvard University.

By choosing Holdren as his science adviser, Obama continues to build an inner circle of senior officials poised to address climate change. Others include Nobel Laureate Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Obama???s pick for energy secretary, and Carol M. Browner, the president-elect???s energy and climate-change coordinator who was EPA administrator under former President Bill Clinton.

Holdren earned his doctorate in plasma physics at Stanford University. He specializes in climate change, energy technology and policy, nuclear arms control, and nonproliferation. He has called for the U.S. to lead the world in addressing climate change.

???None of the great interlinked challenges of our time???the economy, energy, environment, health, security, and the particular vulnerabilities of the poor to shortfalls in all of these???can be solved without insights and advances from the physical sciences, the life sciences, and engineering,??? Holdren says in a statement issued by Harvard. ???President-Elect Obama understands this with perfect clarity.???

???John???s appointment brings a strong intellect and deep commitment to science into the science adviser???s office,??? says David Baltimore, chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) board of directors. ???Not only is his knowledge of energy-related issues remarkable, but his ability to translate science into appropriate policy recommendations makes him an especially wonderful choice.???

Graham Allison, director of Harvard???s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, calls Holdren ???the very model of a policy-relevant scientist. He has a deep understanding of the dynamics of science and technology as drivers of the challenges society faces???from climate disruption to nuclear danger???and new opportunities for feasible solutions.???

???He gets the fact that when you allocate money for scientific research, it???s an investment in the nation???s future,??? says Glenn Ruskin, director of public affairs for the American Chemical Society, which publishes C&EN.

At Harvard, Holdren holds a joint appointment. He is a professor of environmental policy and directs the program on science, technology, and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. He is also professor of environmental science and public policy in the department of earth and planetary sciences.

Holdren comes to the White House with extensive policy experience. He is cochair of the bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy. He was a member of the President???s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology under Clinton, leading major studies on U.S.-Russian cooperation to protect nuclear materials from theft and on federal research into fusion energy. He also served as the U.S. cochair of a U.S.-Russian bilateral commission on managing plutonium from surplus nuclear weapons.

Holdren, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, directs the Woods Hole Research Center, in Falmouth, Mass. He is a former member of the board of directors of the AAAS, having served as president and board chairman.

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