Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. — POULTNEY — Dr. John P. Holdren, President Obama’s advisor on science and technology issues, will be Green Mountain College’s guest speaker at the college’s 179th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m.
Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology and the Senate-confirmed director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is also the chair of the interagency National Science and Technology Council, chair of the Arctic Executive Steering committee, co-chair of the National Oceans Council, co-chair of the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Trained in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, he spent most of his career as a faculty member at UC Berkeley and Harvard, leading interdisciplinary programs focused on energy technology and policy, global environmental change, nuclear arms control and nonproliferation and science and technology policy. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He is also a foreign member of both the Royal Society of London and the Indian National Academy of Engineering, as well as a former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Student speakers are Seraphina Mallon-Breiman, a sociology and anthropology major from Woodstock, N.Y., and Corey Fletcher, of Philadelphia. Fletcher will graduate from the College’s Progressive Program, studying sustainable business and cultural inclusion in educational institutions.
The outdoor ceremony on the Griswold Library lawn is at 10 a.m. and is open to the public (in the case of inclement weather, ticketing is required for the indoor venue, Waldron Gymnasium). The ceremony will also be broadcasted live via webcast. Information is available at www.greenmtn.edu/.
Green Mountain College is located at One Brennan Circle, Poultney.
