E&EM Lead Professor Jonathan Deason presented a lecture entitled “Energy Policy and Long-term Sustainability” at the GW Symposium on Environment, Energy and Sustainability. The symposium was a part of GW’s "Research and Discovery Day." Deason’s lecture, which was held in the third floor Amphitheater of the Marvin Center, addressed three recent research projects undertaken in the E&EM program that provide important input into national energy policies.
The first of these dealt with the establishment of energy goals. The investigation described by Professor Deason used multiobjective optimization models to facilitate convergence of disparate stakeholder opinions about hydrogen production alternatives. The second project, dealing with distributed hydrogen generation, investigated economic, environmental and financial implications of small-scale distributed hydrogen generation alternatives. A third project developed a system of tiered integer programming models to reduce use of non-renewable fuels in Federal automotive fleets.
Deason’s presentation was part of a week of celebratory activities leading up to the inauguration of Steven Knapp as GW's 16th president. Other speakers in Deason’s Research and Discovery Day panel included Peter Hotez, Walter G. Ross Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine, who presented a lecture on “Health Innovation for the World’s Poorest,” Houston Miller, Professor of Chemistry, who lectured on “Environmental Monitoring of Pollution,” and Jorge Rivera, school of business, who presented a lecture on “Environmental Protection and Business .” The symposium on Environment, Energy and Sustainability was moderated by Professor Mark Starik, Chairman of the Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy in the School of Business.
Other nationally recognized speakers included President Knapp, who provided a welcome address for the morning symposia; GW University Professor of Medical Humanities Vanessa Northington Gamble, who spoke on “Race, Justice and Health Disparities: The Need for Research and Action”; Harvard University English Professor Stephen Greenblatt, who spoke on “Cultural Mobility: The Travels of Shakespeare's Cardenio”; and GW Professor and CNN Special Correspondent Frank Sesno, who addressed the topic “Security and Sustainability: Can America Still Lead?”
