January 6, 2025
2 min reading
Biden awards three climate experts with nation’s highest scientific honor
Richard Alley, Lawrence Edwards and David Tilman were among two dozen honorees who received the National Medal of Science or National Medal of Technology and Innovation last week.
The Rhône Glacier, source of the river of the same name, is located in the Swiss Alps. Like many other alpine glaciers around the world, it has retreated significantly over the past 150 years as global temperatures rise.
GmbH & Co. KG/Alamy Stock Photo
CLIMATE FEED | The White House on Friday recognized more than two dozen scientists and innovators with what will likely be the Biden administration’s final National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation.
The awards have honored researchers ranging from astrophysicists and oncologists, as well as the pharmaceutical companies that developed the mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. Three climate and environmental scientists were part of the group.
Richard Alley, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University, received a National Medal of Science for his decades of research on melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise and other climate impacts .
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“By spending extensive tours in the most remote and extreme environments on the planet, Richard Alley has catapulted climate predictions to great heights and underscored a new urgency to address the climate crisis, moving the world forward toward a sustainable future,” said Kei Koizumi, principal deputy director for science, society and policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who announced the awards.
R. Lawrence Edwards, a climate scientist at the University of Minnesota, was also recognized. Edwards received a National Medal of Science for his work reconstructing the planet’s climate history dating back to prehistoric ages.
“Lawrence Edward’s innovative research methods have shed light on the pace, scale and driving factors of climate change and its impact on human civilization, establishing him as one of the most celebrated geoscientists of our time” , Koizumi said.
G. David Tilman, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, also received a National Medal of Science for his research on biodiversity and conservation, particularly on how the diversity of life on the planet helps strengthen ecosystems against environmental disruptions such as climate change.
“David Tilman’s work proves that the extraordinary variety of life that exists on Earth is essential to productive ecosystems, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and much more, helping to feed and fuel the world while making conservation a vocation that is both strategic and moral,” Koizumi said.
In total, the White House has awarded 14 National Medals of Science and 11 National Medals of Technology and Innovation.
“This year’s winners represent a simple truth, as I always believed. America can be defined by one word: opportunity,” Biden said at the ceremony Friday. “That’s what we are: a nation of possibilities.”
Reprinted from E&E News courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential information for energy and environmental professionals.