Steven Koonin

Chief Scientist of BP
Tuesday, July 15th
7:00 PM
SIO Birch Aquarium

Steven E. Koonin is Chief Scientist of BP, the world's second largest independent oil company.  He is responsible for helping allocate BP's $500-million-a-year research funding, plot its technology strategy, and basically spread the word about the global energy challenges of today and tomorrow.

Like most of his contemporaries, Koonin doesn't believe there is a "silver bullet" solution to global warming, but some options are better than others.  He advocates large-scale carbon sequestration at fossil fuel burning plants, as well as a new generation of nuclear power stations.  He sees other alternatives in dealing with global warming, such as geoengineering, which is the process of increasing Earth's reflectivity by pumping material into the upper atmosphere.

Biofuels are of great interest to Koonin as well.  BP recently announced the selection of the University of California and its partners the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrance Berkeley National Laboratory to join in a new $500-million research program (the Energy Biosciences Institute) that will explore how bioscience can be used to increase energy production and reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment.  

Dr. Koonin received his B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1972, and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from MIT in 1975.  He joined the Caltech faculty in 1975 and became a full professor in 1981.  Professor Koonin held the position of Provost of Caltech from 1995 - 2004.  Koonin is currently on leave of absence from his faculty position at Caltech to serve as Chief Scientist of BP in London.