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The Director's Week in Review: Keynotes, International Collaboration, and STEM--Oh, My

Summary: 
OSTP Director John P. Holdren always walks fast, but he was in particularly high gear this week supporting the President’s science and technology agenda at a number of exciting and productive venues.

OSTP Director John P. Holdren always walks fast, but he was in particularly high gear this week supporting the President’s science and technology agenda at a number of exciting and productive venues.

On Wednesday he addressed a packed press conference in downtown Washington at the National Academy of Sciences’ Koshland Museum to help unveil the upcoming USA Science and Engineering Festival, which will cover much of the National Mall on Oct. 23 and 24. During the press conference, Dr. Holdren reinforced President Obama’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math education and the Administration’s pioneering initiatives in this area, including Educate to Innovate and the recently unveiled Change the Equation. Several dozen local middle school students offered a sneak preview of the many exciting projects to be featured at the Festival, which will include more than 750 hands-on, interactive exhibits spanning aerospace, green energy, medicine, biotechnology, climatology, robotics, nanotechnology, botany, neuroscience, genetics, and many other scientific disciplines. More than 350 of the nation's leading science and engineering organizations are partners, including colleges and universities, corporations, Federal agencies, museums and science centers, and professional engineering and science societies.

Earlier in the week, Dr. Holdren shook hands with his European counterparts at the US‐European Union Summit on Science, Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Economic Growth. The summit, held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, kicked off a year-long dialogue between the United States and the European Union on how to use science to spur innovation and jump-start the global economy. U.S. and European experts are working to identify ways to move science and technology off the laboratory workbench and into the hands of entrepreneurs to boost economic activity on both sides of the Atlantic by applying science and technology in new ways.

Dr. Holdren also joined Secretary of Energy Steve Chu this week at the 2010 US-India Energy Partnership Summit, held in Washington, DC. Dr. Holdren delivered a keynote speech for the meeting, which focused on issues relating to national and international energy security.

Finally Dr. Holdren attended a meeting at the American Association for the Advancement of Science at which he formally accepted a report summarizing the findings of the Climate Adaptation Summit held in Washington in May. That meeting explored ways that the Federal government can best prepare the country to adapt to the challenges of climate change, and will be an important element within the growing array of Federal activities in this domain.

And last night Dr. Holdren traveled to St. Louis, where he delivered the keynote address at the Global Energy Future symposium at Washington University. The goals of the symposium are to assess the world’s future energy needs; evaluate the ability of the available resources to meet those needs; and identify research opportunities that might reduce carbon dioxide emission, improve efficiency of energy utilization, or lead to more rapid deployment of renewable energy sources.