University of Texas at Austin Experts Available To Offer Context on Third Climate Change Report

Contact: J.B. Bird
jbird@jsg.utexas.edu
512-232-9623

Date: April 30, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas—The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the third of four new reports on climate change this week (May 4), updating their most recent world reports from 2001. This report focuses on strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin working in climate science, energy, geophysics and efforts to track and combat global warming are available to offer context on the reports.

General Overview / IPCC / Climate Systems

• Eric Barron, dean, Jackson School of Geosciences, is a reviewer of past IPCC reports and a national expert on climate science. He is chair of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences of the National Research Council (NRC), former chair of a number of national climate groups for the NRC, NASA, and other major organizations monitoring global climate, and a member of the climate change committee issuing a new statement from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Contact: ebarron@jsg.utexas.edu,
  512-471-6048.

Energy Conservation / Air Pollution / Atmospheric Science

• Dave Allen, a professor in chemical engineering, is an expert on energy conservation and its ability to mitigate against greenhouse gas emissions and on the chemistry of fine particles in the atmosphere that contribute to global warming. Contact: allen@che.utexas.edu, 512-471-0049 or 512-475-7842.
• Howard Liljestrand, an engineering professor, is an expert in environmental chemistry in the air, aquatic systems and hazardous materials, with a focus on modeling and tracing the chemistry of pollutants.
  Contact: liljestrand@mail.utexas.edu, 512-471-4604.
• Mark Simmons, an ecologist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, is an expert on using green roofs to conserve energy.
  Contact: msimmons@wildflower.org, 512-292-4200.

Mitigation / Clean Energy / Carbon Sequestration

• Ian Duncan, associate director for environment at the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Bureau of Economic Geology, is an expert on carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency and FutureGen, the zero-emissions coal plant of the future. Contact: ian.duncan@beg.utexas.edu, 512-471-5117.
• Gary Rochelle, professor of chemical engineering, works on carbon dioxide scrubbing and controls used to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. Contact: rochelle@che.utexas.edu, 512-471-7230.
• Mark Simmons, an ecologist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, is an expert on designing urban landscapes to store more carbon. Contact: msimmons@wildflower.org, (512) 292 4200.
• Heather Venhaus, an environmental designer and project specialist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, is an expert on designing urban landscapes to store more carbon.
  Contact: hvenhaus@wildflower.org, 512-292-4200.

Balancing Energy, Environment and Economy

• Scott Tinker, director of the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Bureau of Economic Geology, is an expert on the global energy outlook including the projected transition from fossil fuels to the world’s next major sources of energy. He also heads an effort to bring to Texas the FutureGen project—a federally funded zero emissions coal-fired power plant featuring carbon sequestration. Contact: scott.tinker@beg.utexas.edu, 471-0209.