2017 Program & Speakers

The opening keynote address was delivered by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a distinguished professor of climate sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San DiegoHe advises Governor Jerry Brown, Pope Francis, and his Holiness the Dalai Lama on climate change mitigation. His scientific discoveries have led to many policy actions to slow climate change.

The Fred Keeley Lecture was moderated by Fred Keeley, a former California State Assembly Member and current faculty member at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. The panelists included:

  • Ken Alex, UC Santa Cruz (Stevenson '79, politics)
  • Miriam Greenberg, UC Santa Cruz
  • John Laird, UC Santa Cruz (Stevenson '72, politics)
  • Erika Zavaleta, UC Santa Cruz

The first panel was "Engineering Change." It was moderated by Sue Carter, Professor of Physics, Associate Vice Provost, and Division of Graduate Studies at UC Santa Cruz. 

  • David Auston, UC Santa Barbara
  • Peter Cartwright, Avalon Ecopower, Calpine (formerly)
  • Daniel Shugar, NEXTracker, Fremont
  • Whendee Silver,  UC Berkeley

The second panel was "Motivating Change." It was moderated by Jeff Bury, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Department at UC Santa Cruz.

  • Mark Jacobson, Stanford
  • Derek Proudian, Daintree Networks, Los Altos
  • Dylan Sullivan, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco
  • Emily Wimberger, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento

The third panel was "Communicating Change." It was moderated by Rob Irion, a former director and current program advisor for the Science Communicatin Program at UC Santa Cruz.

  • Susan Hassol, Climate Communication
  • Laura Helmuth, Washington Post
  • Jeff Kiehl, UC Santa Cruz
  • Edward Maibach, George Mason University