John Holdren

John Holdren


Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
Incumbent
Assumed office March 19, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	John Marburger
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-01) March 1, 1944 Sewickley, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stanford University^[1]

John Paul Holdren (born March 1, 1944) is the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles 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)^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Holdren was previously the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,^[8] director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center.^[9]

Biography

Holdren was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and grew up in San Mateo, California.^[10] He trained in aeronautics, astronautics and plasma physics and earned a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1970 supervised by Oscar Buneman.^[1]^[11] He taught at Harvard for 13 years and at the University of California, Berkeley for more than two decades.^[2] His work has focused on the causes and consequences of global environmental change, population control, energy technologies and policies, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and science and technology policy.^[2]^[9] He has also taken measures to contextualize the United State's current energy challenge, noting the role that nuclear energy could play.^[12] In 2008, he lived in Falmouth, Massachusetts, with his wife, biologist Cheryl E. Holdren, with whom he has two children and five grandchildren.^[10]

Holdren was involved in the famous Simon–Ehrlich wager in 1980. He, along with two other scientists helped Paul R. Ehrlich establish the bet with Julian Simon, in which they bet that the price of five key metals would be higher in 1990. The bet was centered around a disagreement concerning the future scarcity of resources in an increasingly polluted and heavily populated world. Ehrlich and Holdren lost the bet, when the price of metals had decreased by 1990.^[13]

Holdren was chair of the Executive Committee of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1987 until 1997 and delivered the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance lecture on behalf of Pugwash Conferences in December 1995. From 1993 until 2003, he was chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences, and Co-Chairman of the bipartisan National Committee on Energy Policy from 2002 until 2007. Holdren was elected President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2006–2007), and served as board Chairman (2007–2008).^[9] He was the founding chair of the advisory board for Innovations, a quarterly journal about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges published by MIT Press, and has written and lectured extensively on the topic of global warming.

Holdren served as one of President Bill Clinton's science advisors (PCAST) from 1994 to 2001.^[2] Eight years later, President Barack Obama nominated Holdren for his current position as science advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in December 2008, and he was confirmed on March 19, 2009, by a unanimous vote in the Senate.^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17] He testified to the nomination committee that he does not believe that government should have a role in determining optimal population size^[18] and that he never endorsed forced sterilization.^[19]^[20]^[21]

Recent publications

Holdren at a commercial human spaceflight press conference, 2010

Holdren is the author of over 200 articles and papers, and he has co-authored and co-edited some 20 books and book-length reports, including:^[22]

Science in the White House. Science, May 2009, 567.^[3]
Policy for Energy Technology Innovation. Acting in Time on Energy Policy, (with Laura Diaz Anadon, Max H. Bazerman, David T. Ellwood, Kelly Sims Gallagher, William H. Hogan, Henry Lee, and Daniel Schrag), Brookings Institution Press, 2009.
The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.'s Last Chance to Lead. Scientific American 2008 Earth 3.0 Supplement. October 13, 2008, 20-21.^[23]
Convincing the Climate Change Skeptics. Boston Globe, August 4, 2008.^[24]
Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy To Meet America's Energy Challenges. Presentation at the National Academies 2008 Energy Summit, Washington, D.C., March 14, 2008.^[25]
Global Climatic Disruption: Risks and Opportunities. Presentation at Investor Summit on Climate Risk, New York, February 14, 2008.^[26]
Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge. The John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, D.C., January 17, 2008.^[27]

Early publications

Overpopulation was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, Holdren and co-author Paul R. Ehrlich argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come."^[28] In 1973, Holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the United States, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many."^[29] In 1977, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Holdren co-authored the textbook Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of means to address overpopulation. These included some extreme measures, none of which Ehrlichs and Holdren advocated, such as forced sterilization, compulsory abortion, contraceptives in the food and water supply, reproductive licenses, and more.^[20]^[30]^[31]

Other early publications include Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defenses and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), and Conversion of Military R&D (1998).^[22]

Awards

MacArthur Fellow (1981)^[32]
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1983)^[33]
Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1991)^[34]
Volvo Environment Prize (1993 with Paul Ehrlich)
Kaul Foundation Award in Science and Environmental Policy (1999)
Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2000)^[35]
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2000)
7th Annual Heinz Award in Public Policy (2001)^[36]

References

1 2 Holdren, John Paul (1970). Collisionless Stability of an Inhomogeneous, Confied, Planar Plasma (PhD thesis). Stanford University.
1 2 3 4 Profile: John Holdren "Why He Matters","WhoRunsGov.com", A Washington Post Co Pub. accessed July 24, 2009.
1 2 Holdren, J. P. (2009). "Science in the White House". Science 324 (5927): 567. doi:10.1126/science.1174783. PMID 19407163.
↑ Mervis, J. (2009). "NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: John Holdren Brings More Than Energy to His Role as Science Adviser". Science 324 (5925): 324–325. doi:10.1126/science.324.5925.324. PMID 19372403.
↑ Mervis, J. (2009). "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: No News is Good News for Holdren, Lubchenco at Confirmation Hearing". Science 323 (5917): 995. doi:10.1126/science.323.5917.995. PMID 19229004.
↑ Tollefson, J. (2009). "John Holdren: Adviser on science, fish and wine". Nature 457 (7232): 942–943. doi:10.1038/457942b. PMID 19225485.
↑ Kintisch, E.; Mervis, J. (2009). "THE TRANSITION: Holdren Named Science Adviser, Varmus, Lander to Co-Chair PCAST". Science 323 (5910): 22–23. doi:10.1126/science.323.5910.22. PMID 19119188.
↑ John Holdren's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database, a service provided by Elsevier.
1 2 3 News release. "Obama to Name John P. Holdren as Science Adviser" AAAS, December 18, 2008.
1 2 Wilke, Sharon; Sasha Talcott (20 December 2008). "Harvard Kennedy School's John P. Holdren Named Obama's Science Advisor". Press release. Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
↑ John Holdren at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
↑ http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2010/10/26/science-advisor-john-holdren-%e2%80%9965-sm-%e2%80%9966-contextualizes-energy-challenge/
↑ Dan Gardner (2010). Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail – and Why We Believe Them Anyway. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. p. 232.
↑ Staff and news service reports. "Obama's science adviser starts job", "msnbc.com", March 20, 2009.
↑ Library of Congress , Nomination PN65-07-111, confirmed by Senate voice vote.
↑ Nominations considered and confirmed en bloc, Congressional Record, March 19, 2009 S3577-S3578.
↑ Koenig, Robert. "President Barack Obama's Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Faces Limited Criticism at Confirmation Hearings", Seed Magazine, February 13, 2009.
↑ Video. Senate Confirmation Hearing, February 12, 2009.
↑ Pratt, Andrew Plemmons "Right-wing Attacks on Science Adviser Continue", Science Progress, July 21, 2009
1 2 Mooney, Chris."Hold off on Holdren (again)", "Science Progress", July 2009.
↑ Goldberg, Michelle. "Holdren's Controversial Population Control Past", The American Prospect, July 21, 2009, accessed July 30, 2009.
1 2 "John P. Holdren's CV", The Woods Hole Research Center.
↑ Holdren, John P."The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.'s Last Chance to Lead", Scientific American
↑ Holdren, John P. "Convincing the Climate Change Skeptics", the Boston Globe, August 4, 2008.
↑ "Faculty page-Harvard University".
↑ Holdren, John P."Global Climatic Disruption: Risks and Opportunities", Presentation at Investor Summit on Climate Risk, New York, February 14, 2008.
↑ Holdren, John P. "Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge.", The John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, D.C., January 17, 2008.
↑ Paul R. Erlich and John P. Holdren. "Population and Panaceas A Technological Perspective", Bioscience, Vol 19, pages 1065-1071, 1969.
↑ Holdren, John P. (1973). "Population and the American Predicament: The Case Against Complacency". Daedalus, the No-Growth Society: 31–44. ISBN 978-0-7130-0136-5.
↑ Ehrlich, Paul R.; Anne H. Ehrlich; John P. Holdren (1977). Ecoscience: population, resources, environment. San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0567-2.
↑ Farley, Robert; Montgomery, Scott (July 29, 2009). "Glenn Beck claims science czar John Holdren proposed forced abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population". Politifact. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
↑ "Fellows List: H". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
↑ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter H" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
↑ "Holdren, John P.". United States National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
↑ "Dr. John P. Holdren". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
↑ The Heinz Awards, John Holdren profile

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Holdren.

Biography at the Office of Science and Technology Policy
John Holdren collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
Appearances on C-SPAN
John Holdren collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Works by or about John Holdren in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
John Holdren at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Holdren's Faculty page at Harvard University
Holdren's CV at Woods Hole Research Center
Presidential Address: Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being in Science (journal) 25.January.2008 Vol. 319. no. 5862, pp. 424 – 434
"Interview on Late Night with David Letterman", "CBS.com", April 17, 2008.
"Nominations Hearing for Director OSTP", Washington DC, February 12, 2009.
The New Team: John P. Holdren, profile at The New York Times
John Holdren Speech at the Harvard Kennedy School Forum "Global Climate Disruption: What do we know? What should we do?"
Nobel Prize, Pugwash Online, Arms Limitation and Peace Building in the Post-Cold-War World presented by Professor John P. Holdren, Chairman, Pugwash Executive Committee, 10 December 1995, Oslo, Norway
Lead essay for Innovations journal (Vol. 1, No. 2) "The Energy Innovation Imperative: Addressing Oil Dependence, Climate Change, and Other 21st Century Energy Challenges"
John Holdren speaking at The American Response to Climate Change Conference, held at The Wild Center.
Holdren Urged a ‘World of Zero Net Physical Growth’ in 1995 World Bank Publication.
snippets of Holdren answering questions from the House of Representatives

Political offices
Preceded by John Marburger	Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy 2009–present	Incumbent

Barack Obama's Executive Office of the President

Office	Name	Term	Office	Name	Term
White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy	Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jack Lew Denis McDonough Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle Rob Nabors	2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15	National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan	Jim Jones Thomas E. Donilon Susan Rice Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough Tony Blinken Avril Haines Douglas Lute^†	2009–10 2010–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–13 2013–14 2015– 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations	Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco Anita Decker Breckenridge	2009–11 2011–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security	Ben Rhodes John O. Brennan Lisa Monaco	2009– 2009–13 2013–
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning	Mark B. Childress Kristie Canegallo	2012–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff	Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson	2009–10 2011–12
Senior Advisor to the President	David Axelrod David Plouffe Daniel Pfeiffer Shailagh Murray	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–	White House Communications Director	Anita Dunn Daniel Pfeiffer Jennifer Palmieri Jen Psaki	2009 2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President	Pete Rouse Brian Deese Pete Rouse John Podesta	2009–10 2015– 2011–13 2014–15	Deputy White House Communications Director	Jen Psaki Jennifer Palmieri Amy Brundage	2009–11 2011–14 2014–15
Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Public Engagement Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Director, National Economic Council	Valerie Jarrett Christina Tchen Jon Carson Paulette Aniskoff Cecilia Muñoz David Agnew Jerry Abramson Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling Jeffrey Zients	2009– 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–10 2011–14 2014–	White House Press Secretary Deputy Press Secretary Director of Special Projects Director of Speechwriting White House Counsel	Robert Gibbs Jay Carney Josh Earnest Bill Burton Josh Earnest Eric Schultz Stephanie Cutter Jon Favreau Cody Keenan Greg Craig Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler W. Neil Eggleston	2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2014– 2010–11 2009–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board	Diana Farrell Brian Deese Jason Furman Paul Volcker	2009–11 2011–13 2009–13 2009–11	Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors Miguel Rodriguez Katie Beirne Fallon	2009–11 2011–13 2013 2013–
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors	Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee Jason Furman	2009–10 2010–13 2013–	Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Lisa Konwinski Amy Rosenbaum	2009– 2014–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Katharine Abraham	2011–	Executive Clerk	George T. Saunders^† David Kalbaugh	2009–12 2012–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Cecilia Rouse	2009–	Director, Office of Political Affairs	Patrick Gaspard David Simas	2009–11 2013–
Director, Office of Management and Budget	Peter R. Orszag Jack Lew Jeffrey Zients Sylvia Mathews Burwell Brian Deese Shaun Donovan	2009–10 2010–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2014–	Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Officer	Aneesh Chopra Todd Park Megan Smith Vivek Kundra Steven VanRoekel Tony Scott	2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–11 2011–14 2015–
Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Zients	2009–13	Director, Office of Presidential Personnel	Nancy Hogan Johnathan McBride Valerie Green	2010–14 2014–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom Brian Deese	2010 2011–13 2013–15	Director of Scheduling and Advance Director, White House Military Office	Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle White Crutchfield George D. Mulligan, Jr. Emmett Beliveau	2009–11 2011– 2009–13 2013–
United States Trade Representative	Ron Kirk Michael Froman	2009–13 2013–	Cabinet Secretary	Chris Lu Broderick Johnson	2009–13 2013–
Director, Domestic Policy Council	Melody Barnes Cecilia Muñoz	2009–12 2012–	Deputy Cabinet Secretary	Liz Sears Smith Rachana Bhowmik Michael Robertson Gaurab Bansal	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council	Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman	2009–11 2011–	Staff Secretary	Lisa Brown Rajesh De Douglas Kramer Joani Walsh	2009–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014–
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships	Joshua DuBois Melissa Rogers	2009–2013 2013–	Assistant to the President for Management and Administration	Bradley Kiley Katy Kale Maju Varghese	2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Director, Office of Health Reform	Nancy-Ann DeParle	2009–11	Director, Oval Office Operations	Micaela Fernandez Brian Mosteller	2009–12 2012–
Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform	Jeanne Lambrew	2009–2011	Personal Aide to the President	Reggie Love Marvin Nicholson	2009–11 2011–
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy	Carol Browner	2009–11	Personal Secretary to the President	Katie Johnson Anita Decker Breckenridge Ferial Govashiri	2009–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change	Heather Zichal Dan Utech	2009–2013 2013–	Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President	Eugene Kang	2009–11
Director, Council on Environmental Quality	Nancy Sutley Michael Boots	2009–2014 2014–	Director, Office of National AIDS Policy	Jeffrey Crowley Grant Cofax Douglas Brooks	2009–2011 2012–2014 2014–
Chief of Staff to the First Lady	Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen	2009 2009–10 2011–	Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy	Gil Kerlikowske Michael Botticelli	2009–14 2014–
White House Social Secretary	Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard Deesha Dyer	2009–10 2010–11 2011–15 2015–	Director, Office of Urban Affairs	Adolfo Carrión, Jr. Racquel Russell	2009–2010 2010–
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy	John Holdren	2009–

^*Senate-confirmation pending. †Remained from previous administration (s).

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 10392140 LCCN: n50033013 ISNI: 0000 0001 1742 6102 GND: 170121283 SUDOC: 070334080 MGP: 166241

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