Robert J. Birgeneau

Robert J. Birgeneau is the chancellor of University of California Berkley.

In an opinion column in the San Francisco Chronicle Birgeneau and Steven Chu defended the establishment of the Energy Biosciences Institute with $500 million in funding over then years from BP. "In these partnerships, universities must protect the academic integrity of faculty. The terms of the partnership must be based on fundamental principles that allow for open and timely dissemination of research results. Agreements must respect our primary commitment to the education of our students, and support our ability to make research results available for public benefit in a diligent and timely manner. The contract with BP for the EBI, which is being drafted for approval this summer, will meet these requirements. ... Faculty who mistrust industrial partnerships should not be allowed to block other faculty who want to partner with industry," they wrote.

They proclaimed that it would "serve as a model for large-scale academic-industry partnerships that will play an increasingly important role in solving the major global problems of the 21st century."

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Energy Biosciences Institute
 * Steven Chu

External Articles

 * Robert Birgeneau and Steven Chu, "On Our Energy Future: UC-BP partnership offers path to energy independence", San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 2007.