January - March 1999 Issue


News Items, January - March 1999

The Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change held its fourteenth Global Change Forum in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 27-29. The forum, entitled "Easing the Burdens of Emissions Control," focused on the implications of the more flexible approach to greenhouse gas abatement adopted at Kyoto. Topics included the biophysical potential of forest and agricultural carbon sinks, the economics and policy of sinks, the inclusion of other gases, compliance options for utilities and transportation, and integrating sinks and other greenhouse gases into an emissions trading framework to consider the effects on cost. Keynote addresses were given by Prof. Dr. Dr. Rudolf Dolzer, director of the Institute for International Law at the University of Bonn, and Dr. Harlan Watson, staff director of the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. Meeting participants included about 110 representatives from industry, government, and academia, worldwide. The fifteenth forum will be held in Boston on November 17-19.

John B. Heywood, the Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will receive an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, in a ceremony this spring. Professor Heywood is director of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory and works on issues relating to automotive engines and future transportation technology in the Energy Laboratory. His research focuses on the operation, combustion, and emissions characteristics of internal combustion engines and on their fuels requirements.