Athens, Ga. — U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will give the first George H. Boyd Distinguished Lecture at 11 a.m. in the University of Georgia Chapel on Friday, April 22.
The title of Lautenbacher’s address is “Stewardship of the Coastal and Ocean Environments.” The free lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research with funding from the William S. and Elizabeth K. Boyd Foundation.
As NOAA administrator, Lautenbacher spearheaded the first-ever Earth Observation Summit, which culminated in 33 nations formalizing plans for international cooperation on construction and maintenance of a global Earth-observing system. At the third summit in February 2005, more than 60 nations met and agreed to a 10-year implementation plan for GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems), which will provide early warnings on natural disasters and other global climate information. Lautenbacher also has headed numerous delegations at international government summits and conferences around the world, including the U.S. delegation to the World Meteorological Organization and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. He was previously president and CEO of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), a not-for-profit organization created to increase basic knowledge and public support across the spectrum of ocean sciences.
For more information, access www.ovpr.uga.edu/boyd or contact Judy Purdy at 706/583-0599 jbp@ovpr.uga.edu.