Hockfield continues push for energy R&D boost

September 17, 2008

MIT President Susan Hockfield on Wednesday continued her call for the federal government to boost energy research funding, saying the United States needs "a commitment of historic proportions" to power innovation in the field.

A week after she testified before Congress and asked lawmakers to spark an energy revolution, Hockfield was back in Washington to address a news conference on the role of basic research in solving America's energy crisis. The event, held at the National Press Club, was sponsored by The Science Coalition and The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation.

"Today, as we face the triple knot of economic insecurity, energy insecurity and global climate change, we should also see an opportunity, a profoundly hopeful, practical path to America's future, through rapid, sustained, broad-based and intensive investment in basic energy research," Hockfield said in prepared remarks.

Speaking alongside Hockfield at the news conference were David Bell '78, president, CEO and director of Intersil Corporation; Uma Chowdhry PhD '76, senior vice president and chief science and technology officer at DuPont; and Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The full text of Hockfield's prepared remarks can be viewed on her site and an archived webcast is available.

VIDEO

Archived webcast - Fueling America's Future, National Press Club, Sept. 17, 2008 - TechTV

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Hockfield urges Congress to fund 'energy revolution' - MIT President Susan Hockfield urged Congress Wednesday to sharply increase federal funding for energy research, saying such a move could help unleash an "energy revolution" capable of resolving several of America's problems at once. 9/10/2008

Statement at the National Press Club on Energy R&D - MIT President Susan Hockfield, Sept. 17, 2008

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