Co-Director, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes
Arizona State University
Daniel Sarewitz’s work focuses on revealing the connections between science policy decisions, scientific research and social outcomes. How does the distribution of the social benefits of science relate to the way that we organize scientific inquiry? What accounts for the highly uneven advance of know-how related to solving human problems? How do the interactions between scientific uncertainty and human values influence decision making? How does technological innovation influence politics? And how can improved insight into such questions contribute to improved real-world practice? From 1989 to 1993, Sarewitz worked on R&D policy issues as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives, and principal speech writer for Committee Chairman George E. Brown, Jr. He received a doctorate in geological sciences from Cornell University in 1986. He now directs CSPO’s office in Washington, D.C., and focuses his efforts on a range of activities to increase CSPO’s impact on federal science and technology policy processes. He also is a professor of science and society in ASU’s School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability.
Armond Cohen, Project Co-Leader
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Clean Air Task Force
Armond Cohen is co-founder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), a based non-profit organization with offices in the United States and China dedicated to reducing atmospheric pollution through research, advocacy and private sector collaboration. Among other efforts, CATF is actively promoting the accelerated demonstration and adoption of low carbon coal technology in the United States, China and India. Cohen is the lead author on a May 2009 article in The Electricity Journal that lays out a comprehensive program for rapid scale-up of CCS. He also co-leads an effort to support the Arctic nations in developing rapid responses to Arctic warming by reducing methane and black carbon. Cohen is a member of the Keystone Energy Board and the U.S. EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Committee. He is an honors graduate of the Harvard Law School and Brown University, and served as a judicial clerk for the federal appeals court in Chicago. He testifies frequently before Congress and other bodies on climate and energy policy, and speaks frequently to the media on these topics.
Samuel Thernstrom, Co-Director
Senior Climate Policy Advisor
Clean Air Task Force
At CATF, Sam works on clean energy innovation, next-generation nuclear power, and carbon capture and sequestration. Sam is also CATF’s resident expert in the science and policy implications of geoengineering, a nascent field of research involving large-scale alteration of the earth’s environment to counteract the harmful effects of elevated greenhouse gas concentrations. Prior to joining CATF, he served as communications director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (2001-03) and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (2003-2010), where he co-directed a project exploring the public policy implications of geoengineering. Before coming to D.C., Sam was a speechwriter for New York Governor George Pataki, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and a backcountry caretaker with the Appalachian Mountain Club and Green Mountain Club. He studied the history of American environmentalism at Harvard University, and graduated with a B.A. in 1991. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and two sons.
John Alic, Technical Consultant & Writer
Consultant on technology policy
John Alic writes and consults on policy issues related to technology and science. As a staff member at the congressional Office of Technology Assessment from 1979 to 1995, he directed studies on international competitiveness and technology policy. Alic is the author or co-author of several books and over 100 papers, articles, case studies and book chapters. A graduate of Cornell, Stanford, and the University of Maryland, he has taught at several universities.
Travis Doom, Program Specialist
CSPO, DC Office