New Speakers Announced for AGU Science Policy Conference

WASHINGTON, DC—The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has added several new speakers to the schedule for its second annual Science Policy Conference, which will take place in Washington, DC on 24 – 26 June 2013 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Representing leading scientific research institutions, federal and state agencies, private industry and NGOs, these speakers will cover a wide range of topics, from the public and agriculture impacts of climate change to emerging issues and needs related to onshore and offshore energy development. They will also discuss the ways science can help solve these challenges, including informing critical policy decisions.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Kevin Book, Managing Director, Research, ClearView Energy Partners, LLC
• Andrew Castaldi, Senior Vice President and Head of Catastrophe Perils, Americas, Swiss Re

Benjamin Collier, Director of Research, Global Centre on Disaster Risk and Poverty, University of Kentucky

• Vance Ehmke, Farmer and Business Owner, Kansas
• Alex Flint, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Energy Institute
• Sue Minter, Deputy Secretary, Vermont Agency of Transportation
• Fred Tyson, Scientific Program Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health
• Peter Warwick, Project Chief, Carbon Sequestration Project, U.S. Geological Survey
• Herbert Wheary, Senior Policy Consultant, Dominion Resources
• Lawrence Zanetti, Physicist, Principal Professional Staff, John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab

Conference attendees will hear presentations from these speakers, and many more, during sessions that will cover topics such as Policies for Risk Reduction, Potential for Carbon Capture and Storage, and The Changing Ocean and Impacts on Human Health. They will also have the opportunity to engage with researchers during the conference’s numerous poster presentations, and to hear a presentation by James Balog, founder of the Extreme Ice Survey and subject of the film “Chasing Ice,” and Richard Harris, science correspondent for National Public Radio, about how our changing climate is already impacting the world and what we can expect in the future.

To see a full list of speakers and sessions, please visit the Science Policy Conference website. Members of the news media including print, broadcast and online journalists, as well as public information officers, mayregister online in advance, or onsite at the conference. Registrants will receive, at no charge, a badge that provides access to all of the scientific sessions of the meeting, as well as to the onsite press room.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization with more than 62,000 members representing over 144 countries. AGU advances the Earth and space sciences through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. www.agu.org