January 6, 2025
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Biden Awards Three Local weather Specialists Nation’s Highest Science Honor
Richard Alley, Lawrence Edwards and David Tilman have been among the many two dozen honorees who obtained the Nationwide Medal of Science or the Nationwide Medal of Expertise and Innovation final week
Rhône Glacier, the supply of the river of the identical title, is situated within the Swiss Alps. Like many different alpine glaciers all over the world, it has retreated considerably within the final 150 years as world temperatures rise.
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CLIMATEWIRE | The White Home acknowledged greater than two dozen scientists and innovators Friday with what’s going to probably be the Biden administration’s final Nationwide Medals of Science and Nationwide Medals of Expertise and Innovation.
The awards honored researchers starting from astrophysicists and oncologists, in addition to the pharmaceutical firms that developed the mRNA vaccines for Covid-19. Three local weather and environmental scientists have been included within the bunch.
Richard Alley, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State College, obtained a Nationwide Medal of Science for his many years of analysis on melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea-level rise and different local weather impacts.
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“Spending long tours in the most remote and extreme environments on Earth, Richard Alley has catapulted climate predictions to great heights and raised new urgency to address the climate crisis, moving the world toward a sustainable future,” mentioned Kei Koizumi, principal deputy director for science, society and coverage on the White Home Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage, who introduced the awards.
Additionally acknowledged was R. Lawrence Edwards, a local weather scientist on the College of Minnesota. Edwards was awarded a Nationwide Medal of Science for his work on reconstructing the planet’s local weather historical past courting again to the prehistoric ages.
“Lawrence Edward’s innovative research methods shed light on the rate, scale and drivers of climate change and the impact on human civilization, defining him as one of the most celebrated earth scientists of our time,” Koizumi mentioned.
G. David Tilman, an ecologist on the College of Minnesota, additionally obtained a Nationwide Medal of Science for his analysis on biodiversity and conservation, together with the ways in which the planet’s range of life helps bolster ecosystems in opposition to environmental disturbances like local weather change.
“David Tilman’s work proves the extraordinary variety of life that exists on Earth is essential to productive ecosystems, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and more, helping to feed and power the world while making conservation both a strategic and moral calling,” Koizumi mentioned.
Altogether, the White Home awarded 14 Nationwide Medals of Science and 11 Nationwide Medals of Expertise and Innovation.
“This year’s honorees represent a simple truth as I’ve always believed. America can be defined by a single word: possibilities,” Biden mentioned on the ceremony on Friday. “That’s who we are: a nation of possibilities.”
Reprinted from E&E Information with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E Information offers important information for vitality and atmosphere professionals.
