NEWS INDEX 2001 2002 October

Public policy expert to discuss 'Living With Terrorism'

Jeff Unger, News Bureau
(217) 333-1085

10/3/02

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Lewis M. Branscomb, a public policy expert from Harvard University and co-chair of the committee that recently wrote a report on countering terrorism, will deliver the inaugural lecture Oct. 8 (Tuesday) of a seminar series at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Branscomb, the Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management emeritus at Harvard, will discuss "Living With Catastrophic Terrorism: Can Science and Technology Make Us Safer?" The free, public lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Room 141 of the Loomis Laboratory of Physics, 1110 W. Green St., Urbana.

The lecture begins the William R. Schowalter Science and Technology Seminar, which recognizes the immediate past dean of the College of Engineering.

"This semester, the seminar lectures will concentrate on homeland security," said Jeremiah Sullivan, a professor of physics who is coordinating the seminar. "There will be a theme each semester on topics connected to the college and of broad interest."

Branscomb is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Academy of Public Administration. He also is a director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the presidents of the first three groups selected Branscomb co-chair of the group that wrote the report "Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism," which was published in July 2002.

Branscomb was appointed by President Johnson to the President’s Science Advisory Committee and by President Reagan to the National Productivity Advisory Committee. In 1980, President Carter appointed him to the National Science Board.