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Biography of Dr. John H. Gibbons
John H. (Jack) Gibbons
is the Assistant to the President for Science and
Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy. In these capacities, Dr. Gibbons is charged with providing access
to authoritative information and expert scientific, engineering and
technological advice for the President, Federal Officials and Congress,
and with coordinating science and technology policy throughout the Federal
Government. Dr. Gibbons co-chairs the
President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
and manages the
National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
.
He is an internationally recognized scientist and an expert in energy and
environmental issues who has a deep interest and concern about the support
of science and the impacts of technology on society. Following his formal
training in physics, he spent the next 15 years at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory. At Oak Ridge, Gibbons studied the structure of atomic nuclei,
with emphasis on the role of neutron capture in the nucleosynthesis of
heavy elements in stars. In the late 60's, at the urging of Alvin M.
Weinberg, he pioneered studies on how to use technology to conserve
energy and minimize the environmental impacts of energy production and
consumption. In 1973, at the start of the nation's first major energy
crisis, Gibbons was appointed the first director of the Federal Office
of Energy Conservation. Two years later he returned to Tennessee to direct
the University of Tennessee Energy, Environment and Resources Center. In
1979, he returned to Washington to direct the Congressional Office of
Technology Assessment which provides Congress with nonpartisan,
comprehensive analyses on a broad spectrum of issues involving technology
and public policy where his tenure lasted over 2 six-year terms prior to
his Presidential appointment on February 2, 1993.
Dr. Gibbons is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and was recently elected to
membership in the National Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations. Other honors include the Federation of
American Scientists Public Service Award; the AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson
Prize for sustained exceptional contributions to advancing science; the
Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest from the American
Physical Society; and medals from the German and French governments for
fostering scientific cooperation.
Dr. Gibbons was born in Harrisonburg, VA, in 1929. He received a
bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry from Randolph-Macon College
in 1949 and a doctorate in physics from Duke University in 1954. His
publications are numerous in the areas of energy and environmental policy,
energy supply and demand, conservation, technology and policy, resource
management and environmental problems, nuclear physics, and origins of
solar system elements.
Speeches and Testimony
-
"Remarks at the Dael Wolfle Lecture, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA" delivered October 9, 1996
-
"Remarks at The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and
Engineering Mentoring Awards Ceremony, Room 450, Old
Executive Office Building, Washington, DC" delivered September 25, 1996
- "Remarks at 12th Annual
EPSCoR National Conference, Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC" delivered
September 16, 1996
-
"Sound Science, Sound Policy: The Ozone Story" delivered September
19th, 1995
-
AAAS Forum -- "The First Rule of Tinkering" delivered June 26th, 1995
-
"Remarks at AAAS Policy Colloquium" delivered April 12th, 1995
-
"Remarks at the Wernher von Braun Lecture, Smithsonian, The New
Frontier: Space Science and Technology in the Next Millennium"
delivered March 22nd, 1995
- "Risk Assessment and
Cost-Benefit Analysis for New Regulation" delivered February 6th, 1995
- "Statement on FY96 Research and Development Budget" delivered February 6th, 1995
- "Science in the National
Interest" testimony delivered January 6, 1995
- "Statement on National Space
Transportation Policy" testimony delivered on September 20, 1994
- "Technology for a Sustainable
Future" delivered at the 1994 H. John Heinz Public Policy Symposium on
September 20, 1994
- "Science in the National
Interest" testimony delivered August 4, 1994
- "Plutonium and International
Security" testimony delivered May 26, 1994
- "Plutonium and National
Security" speech to the Public Forum on Plutonium on May 4, 1994
- "Global Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) and Research & Development Subsidies"
testimony delivered on April 20, 1994
- "Biotechnology: Opportunity
and Challenge" speech delivered at the National Biotechnology Summit
on January 24, 1994
- "US-Russia Space
Cooperation" testimony delivered on October 6, 1993
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