U-M environmental
scientist
Rosina Bierbaum
Dean, School of Natural Resources and Environment
By Kevin Merrill
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Not many scientists get to conduct research on a truly global level. But then again, not many scientists can say their work might change human history.
Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), is putting her 20-year record of environmental science to work for the World Bank starting in August. There, she will co-author and co-direct its prestigious World Development Report 2010, which will focus on climate change and development.
“There is no issue more fundamentally important to every citizen, business and nation as the issue of confronting global climate change,” said Bierbaum, a recognized global expert on the topic. “This report will become a global guide on what can be done to accelerate humanity’s response to the problem.”
The World Bank recruited Bierbaum for the year-long assignment because of her extensive knowledge of global climate change science and policy, and her intimate knowledge of the research enterprise on the topic. Of the two decades she spent in Washington prior to leading SNRE, six were as director of the Environment Division at the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President.
In that capacity, she was the Clinton Administration’s senior scientific adviser on environmental research and development, with responsibilities for global change, air and water quality, biodiversity, ecosystem management, and energy research and development.
Prior to her Executive Office experience, she served 13 years in the legislative branch at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, where in 1993 she produced “Preparing for an Uncertain Climate,” the first national report on adaptation to climate change. She also participated in nine assessments of pressing environmental issues for Congress’ legislative agenda.
During her Washington years, she led four U.S. delegations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In recognition of those contributions as well as other achievements, she was awarded the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s “Climate Protection” award in 1999.
The World Development Report has the potential to guide how billions in private and public money is spent on adaptation, mitigation and development. As part of her assignment, she will meet with financial, political and scientific leaders from around the world. In the process, she will define additional analyses to be completed for the report and determine by whom.
Published since 1978, the Report is an annual publication that focuses on a different topic each year and aims both to consolidate existing knowledge on a particular aspect of development and to stimulate debate on new directions for development policy.
“It is rare for a co-director of the report to be drawn from a university; this offers us an unusual opportunity to showcase our research, involve our students in an influential study, and help create needed change,” said Terry Sullivan, U-M's provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “It is also, of course, a singular honor for Rosina, which will also help position SNRE as a leader in the rapidly developing climate change arena.”
In order to fulfill her responsibilities to the World Bank, Bierbaum is taking a year-long leave of absence; David Allan, currently SNRE’s associate dean, is serving as acting dean starting Sept. 1.
In addition to being honored by the World Bank’s invitation, Bierbaum is anxious to again be immersed in a research project of her own. As dean since October 2001, she has spent a considerable amount of time working with faculty, students and alumni to strengthen the school’s already strong reputation internationally. One such effort was coordinating the historic May 2007 National Summit on Coping with Climate Change.
The World Bank appointment is a natural one, given her work in the public sector as a scientist and adviser. Those experiences are essential in completing an interdisciplinary research effort as large as the World Development Report.
“My laboratory and field research focused on understanding how multiple environmental stresses affect the viability and health of marine ecosystems. Now, I am helping to evaluate what the work of thousands of researchers around the world implies for the health of the planet. Climate change is one of a suite of multiple stresses all simultaneously challenging the life support systems of the globe,” said Bierbaum, who earned her doctorate in ecology and evolution from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, in 1985.
“Figuring out wise adaptation and mitigation strategies is an urgent need,” she said. “My current research focuses on the interface of science and policy and I work more as a translator, assessor and user of knowledge.”
Since her arrival at SNRE, Bierbaum has overseen the creation of a new undergraduate Program in the Environment; enhanced interdisciplinary teaching and research by successfully recruiting 13 faculty to the school, eight of whom hold joint appointments with other schools and colleges at U-M; developed the first dual degree in the United States between an engineering and natural resources school; tripled research activity; reinvigorated Great Lakes research across campus; and expanded the school’s mission to include global change.
Each year, she teaches in both undergraduate and graduate courses and is a guest lecturer in classes across campus. Additionally, she delivers about 50 presentations in national and international venues annually.
On campus, she co-chaired U-M’s Sustainability Task Force; chairs the Deans’ Council of the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute; and serves as a member of the oversight committee developing a certificate program in Science, Technology and Public Policy.
She currently serves as a trustee of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and as a board member for the Federation of American Scientists, The Energy Foundation, the Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. She is also a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Science Advisory Council, the International Advisory Board for the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment”, the National Research Council’s Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, the Design Committee for The Heinz Center’s The State of the Nation’s Ecosystems project, and the Executive Committee for the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. She has also served as the vice chair of the United Nations Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development and is a former board member for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed her to the Michigan Climate Action Council.