Speaker biographies
Bruce Dale is a professor of chemical engineering and former chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University. Dr. Dale’s first academic position was in the Department of Agricultural and Chemical Engineering at Colorado State University, where he rose to the rank of professor in 1988. In that same year he joined Texas A&M University, where he became a professor of chemical and agricultural engineering. In 1996, Dr. Dale became a professor in and the chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan State University, where he also holds an appointment in the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1996 he won the Charles D. Scott Award for contributions to the use of biotechnology to produce fuels, chemicals, and other industrial products from renewable plant resources. In 2001 he stepped down as chair of the department to devote time to teaching and his research. Professor Dale’s research and professional interests lie at the intersection of chemical engineering and the life sciences. Specifically, he is interested in the environmentally sustainable conversion of plant matter to industrial products—fuels, chemicals, and materials—while meeting human and animal needs for food. He led a National Research Council report entitled “Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities,” which was published in May 2000. Dr. Dale has authored over a hundred refereed journal papers and is an active consultant to industry professionals. He holds thirteen U.S. and foreign patents.
Kenneth P. Green is a visiting scholar at AEI, where he studies public policy pertaining to energy and the environment. An environmental scientist by training, he has authored numerous policy studies, newspaper and magazine articles, several encyclopedia and book chapters, and a textbook for middle-school students entitled Global Warming: Understanding the Debate (Enslow Publishers, 2002). Prior to coming to AEI, Mr. Green studied U.S. policy issues for eight years with California’s Reason Foundation, and studied Canadian policy issues for nearly three years at Canada’s Fraser Institute.
Steven F. Hayward is the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Environmental Studies at AEI and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He is also an adjunct fellow at the John Ashbrook Center and a former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Weaver Fellow of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, an Earhart Fellow, and the Olive Garvey Fellow of the Mont Pelerin Society. Mr. Hayward studies the environment, law, political economy, and the presidency. He is the author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, published jointly by the AEI Press and the Pacific Research Institute, and a number of other books, including The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980; Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity and Greatness. Hayward writes AEI’s Environmental Policy Outlook and has had articles published in National Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reason, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, and the Chicago Tribune.
Lester Lave is a university professor and the Higgins Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), with appointments in the Business School, Engineering School, and Public Policy School. His research focuses on health, safety, and environmental issues, including the effects of air pollution on mortality, the benefits and costs of automobile safety standards, the risks of carcinogenic chemicals, the carcinogenicity of chemicals, the value of natural resources, and the effects of global climate change. As a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 1978 to 1982, he investigated a variety of regulatory and risk-analysis issues. Mr. Lave served as a consultant to a large number of federal and state agencies and corporations. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, served as president of the Society for Risk Analysis, and sat on many committees of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Medical Association, and Office of Technology Assessment.
He is the director of the CMU Green Design Initiative (Practical Pollution Prevention), a program focused on using pollution prevention and sustainable development to boost economic development. The program has partnerships with leading companies to address these issues and to design products and processes for the environment. Although it is only four years old, the program has already received extensive support from IBM, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, Texaco, the American Plastics Council, AT&T, Xerox, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Union Carbide, Alcoa, and other industrial companies. Mr. Lave is also principal in the Carnegie Mellon Global Change Center sponsored by National Science Foundation.
David Pimentel is a professor of ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University. His research spans the fields of energy, biotechnology, sustainable and international agriculture, land and water conservation, ecological and economic aspects of pest control, and environmental policy. Pimentel has published more than 600 scientific papers in addition to twenty-four books, and has served on many national and government committees, including the National Academy of Sciences; President’s Science Advisory Council; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S Department of Agriculture; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress; and the U.S. State Department.
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