Media Advisory: Norwegian scientists to join Bay Area research leaders

ATTENTION: Reporters, editors covering science & technology

WHAT

A two-day symposium, part of Transatlantic Science Week 2011, that will bring together University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Norwegian scientists to discuss the latest research in areas ranging from climate science and renewable energy to marine and space science.

WHEN

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 25 and 26. Opening remarks on Tuesday at 9 a.m. will be followed by two keynote addresses at 10 a.m.

WHERE

David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, corner of Oxford Street, Berkeley (see directions )

WHO

• Wegger Strommen, Norwegian ambassador to the United States
• Robert Birgeneau, UC Berkeley chancellor
• Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, a UC Berkeley graduate (M.A. political science, 1999)
• Tora Aasland, Norwegian minister of research and higher education
• Trond Giske, Norwegian minister of industry and trade
• Graham Fleming, UC Berkeley vice chancellor for research and professor of chemistry

Consecutive keynote addresses at 10 a.m. Tuesday by:

• Donald DePaolo, associate director for energy and environmental sciences at LBNL and UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science
• Fridtjof Unander, executive director, Research Council of Norway

DETAILS

Transatlantic Science Week, organized by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C., is an annual event designed to increase transatlantic cooperation in research, innovation and higher education. Alternating between Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, the conference meets this year for the first time on the West Coast. UC Berkeley is the initial stop, with sessions moving later in the week to Stanford University, the IBM Research-Almaden laboratory, NASA Research Park and Google. (For details, link to http://www.norway.org )

UC Berkeley and LBNL scientists will present talks alongside Norwegian scientists on topics that include bioenergy, solar energy, wind power, green buildings, carbon sequestration, sustainable energy, underwater technology, space and satellite studies of Earth, and education research.

“I am delighted to welcome our Norwegian colleagues to Transatlantic Science Week 2011 and look forward to productive discussions that will foster increased interaction and collaboration between Berkeley researchers and their Norwegian counterparts," Fleming said.