Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy

On Monday, November 29, 2010 at 10 am, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will release its report entitled "Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy."   Requested by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, this report addresses one of the greatest challenges facing the United States: how to transform the Nation's energy system within one to two decades through leadership in energy technology innovation--a challenge with great implications for economic competitiveness, environmental stewardship, and national security.

The report will be released at a public briefing that will take place in the auditorium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington DC (closest metro stop: Metro Center).  The event will feature opening remarks by PCAST Co-chair John P. Holdren, who is Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  Presenting the report will be Ernest Moniz and Maxine Savitz, both members of PCAST (biographical information below).    The event will also feature discussants Robert Simon, Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and David Goldston, Director of Government Affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council and former Chief of Staff for the House Committee on Science.

To register to attend the meeting, please visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast.

About PCAST

PCAST is an advisory group of the nation's leading scientists and engineers, appointed by the President to augment the science and technology advice available to him from inside the White House and from cabinet departments and other federal agencies.  PCAST is consulted about and often makes policy recommendations concerning the full range of policy issues in the domains of science, technology, and innovation. For more information on PCAST, including its membership, see http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast.

Presenters

John P. Holdren, PCAST Co-Chair, is Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Holdren was a Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He also served concurrently as Professor of Environmental Science and Policy in Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and as Director of the independent, nonprofit Woods Hole Research Center. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship.

Ernest J. Moniz, PCAST Member, is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at MIT. His research centers on energy technology and policy in a low-carbon world and on nuclear proliferation issues. He served as Under Secretary of the Department of Energy (1997-2001) and Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (1995-1997). Dr. Moniz is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Humboldt Foundation, and the American Physical Society and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was named to the Department of Energy's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future as of January 2010.

Maxine Savitz, PCAST Member, is retired general manager of Technology Partnerships at Honeywell, Inc, and has more than 30 years of experience managing research, development, and implementation programs for the public and private sectors, including in the aerospace, transportation, and industrial sectors. From 1979 to 1983 Dr. Savitz served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Conservation in the US Department of Energy. She currently serves as vice-president of the National Academy of Engineering.