Dr Kris Johnson is to join the members of the newly appointed Advisory Board for NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute for environmental, marine and energy research.
Dr Johnson is a former Under Secretary for Energy with the Obama administration in Washington, DC until end-2010.
Dr Johnson is joined on the board by Dr Aaron Bernstein, Harvard Medical School; Dr Lisa Amini, IBM; Dr Niall McDonough, the European Science Foundation; and Dr James Cunningham, NUI Galway.
The Ryan Institute was formed in 2010 as a result of the strategic merger between the Environmental Change Institute and the Martin Ryan Institute for Marine Science. The Ryan Institute has over 300 researchers.
The Advisory Panel met in NUI Galway this week to coincide with official launch of the Ryan Institute for Environmental, Marine and Energy Research by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.
A public symposium entitled ‘Green Shift, Blue Growth, Bright Future?’ was also held on Tuesday July 10 featuring leading international experts in the environmental marine, energy and smart infrastructure research. The event was also addressed by Pat Rabbitte TD, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
The Minister highlighted that energy matters will be high on the agenda when Ireland hosts the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers in the first half of 2013. He also announced that he will host a major energy technology conference on May 7 2013 and his intention to progress a number of dossiers during this time including the role of technology and research in energy and related matters.