John Holdren

John Holdren (also sometimes referred to as John P. Holdren) is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

On 20 December 2008, then-U.S.-President-elect Barack Obama named Holdren as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)


 * Board of Sponsors, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
 * Network Member, Global Business Network

On nuclear power
In April 2009, Holdren remarked, "We are probably going to see some new nuclear power plants in this country. ... We hope they will be characterized by shorter construction times." He was speaking at an event organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"If nuclear energy is to make a big dent globally, then we are going to have to be attentive to breaking the linkages between nuclear energy technology and nuclear weapons technology," Holdren added. "And I think the administration will be attentive to how we need to do that as well."

Biography
Holdren earned a bachelor's degree from MIT in 1965 and a PhD in plasma physics from Stanford University in 1970. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley for more than two decades. His work has focused on global environmental change, energy technologies and energy policy|policies, nuclear proliferation, and science and technology policy. Dr. Holdren served as chairman of the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from February 2007 until February 2008 (AAAS) and is director of the Woods Hole Research Center.

Dr. Holdren is the author of some 300 articles and papers, and he has co-authored and co-edited some 20 books and book-length reports, such as Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Ecoscience (1977), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defences and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), Conversion of Military R&D (1998), and Ending the Energy Stalemate (2004). Holdren favors non use of nuclear weapons to respond to chemical and biological attacks on Americans

He is the chair of the advisory board for Innovations, a quarterly journal about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges published by MIT Press.

His wife is Cheryl E. Holdren.

Awards

 * Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * Member, National Academy of Engineering
 * Member, National Academy of Sciences
 * MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship, 1981
 * Member of President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), 1994-2001
 * Chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1993-2004
 * Volvo Environment Prize of 1993 (with Paul Ehrlich)
 * Nobel Peace Prize acceptance lecture on behalf of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, December 1995
 * Chair of the Executive Committee of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, 1987-1997
 * Kaul Foundation Award in Science and Environmental Policy, 1999
 * Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, 2000
 * 7th Heinz Award in Public Policy, 2001
 * President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Climate change skeptics
 * Global warming
 * Obama administration

External resources

 * "John P. Holdren ", Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, undated, accessed January 2009.
 * "John P. Holdren", Woods Hole Research Center, 2008.
 * "John Holdren", Harvard University, accessed January 2009.
 * "John Holdren", The 7th Heinz Awards, accessed January 2009.

External articles

 * John Holdren, "Arms Limitation and Peace Building in the Post-Cold-War World", Nobel Prize, Pugwash Online, December 10, 1995. (This speech was accepting the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to the Pugwash Council and its founder and President, Professor Joseph Rotblat. Holdren was the Chairman of the Pugwash Executive Committee at the time.)
 * "The Energy Innovation Imperative: Addressing Oil Dependence, Climate Change, and Other 21st Century Energy Challenges", Innovations journal, Spring 2006, Volume 1, Number 2, Pages 3-23.
 * John Holdren, "Climate Change: The Sky Is Falling. An Interview", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Volume 63 Number 1, January-February 2007, pages 40-45. (Not available online).
 * John Holdren, "Energy and Sustainability", Science, Editorial, February 9 February 2007, Vol. 315. no. 5813, p. 737.
 * Rosine Bierbaum, John P. Holdren, Michael MacCracken, Richard H. Moss, Peter H. Raven, et al. "Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable" Sigma Xi / U.N. Foundation Expert Group Report on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, February 2007.
 * Gil Omenn, John P. Holdren, David Baltimore, et al. "AAAS Board Statement on Climate Change", American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), February 18, 2007.
 * John Holdren (Chair) and co-authors W.K. Reilly, Co-Chair; J.W. Rowe, Co-Chair; P.R. Sharp, Congressional Co-Chair; J. Grumet, Executive Director; M. Tatsutani, Editor; et al, ''Energy policy Recommendations to the President of the 110th Congress", National Commission on Energy Policy, April 2007.
 * John P. Holdren, John Holdren Speech at the Harvard Kennedy School Forum "Global Climate Disruption: What do we know? What should we do?"], Presentation to the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Harvard University, November 6, 2007.
 * John P. Holdren, "Convincing Climate Change Skeptics", Op-ed, Boston Globe, August 4, 2008.
 * John P. Holdren, "'Climate-Change Skeptics Revisited", Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, August 5, 2008.
 * John Holdren, "The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.'s Last Chance to Lead: McCain or Obama can end shameful U.S. foot-dragging and rally the world against climate change", Scientific American, October 2008.