TRANSATLANTIC SCIENCE WEEK

The speakers in my session on Marine Technology.

There was a successful pick up Monday evening of colleagues from Norway at San Francisco airport.  After about an hour we made it to Berkeley for a quick dinner at the Claremont Hotel.  This historic 1915 hotel was crowded with not only the Science Week attendees, but also a few hundred people at a launch of a new vodka, which made things quite lively!  A shuttle took us to the conference center and the opening remarks commenced soon thereafter.  The surprise (for me) was the presence and entrance of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway.  The audience rose in silence and then sat after Haakon was seated.  He spoke about the upcoming week and shared his enthusiasm for the event.  With a focus on energy, marine technology, genomics and space science, he emphasized the importance of the event for addressing many issues facing humanity.  He was also excited to be back at Berkeley where he received his BA in 1999.  His impressive remarks were followed by those of two ministers that sponsored the event; Tora Aasland the Minister of Education and Research, and Trond Giske, Minister of Trade and Industry.

Crown Prince Haakon addressing the Science Week attendees.

The break was followed by a number of talks, including the plenary talk which was particularly interesting and ominous.  It covered humanity’s current energy needs, and future projections of energy, food, water and population.  There are so many daunting tasks and it really hit home as the population passed the 7 billion mark this week. What was clear to me though was that the people in that room ARE the people that have the skill, potential and obligation to alter the current trajectories.  My talks were in the late afternoon and were received well (click here for talks).  Specifically, I highlighted the technical details and educational framework of the 3-year collaborative program with Norway called NORUS.  We had a number of success stories in the program, so highlighting them in the talk was fun.  After a short break, we then went to the reception dinner for good food, conversation, and another set of talks.   The following day was highlighted by the Kavli Lecture given by James Angel on using his breakthroughs in telescope materials science and engineering for development of new solar energy technology.  Again, I was left with a sense of urgency about addressing these global issues.  Sessions on Education and Genomics ended the day. 

Colleagues enjoying chowder at Fisherman's Wharf.

Sunset over Palo Alto.

Harbor seals basking along the coast at Cal Poly's Center for Marine and Coastal Sciences.

We then drove via downtown San Francisco and Fisherman’s wharf to SFO again for a meeting with a colleague and stayed there the night. The following day we drove to Palo Alto and Stanford University where the conference ended and then off to San Luis Obispo for more meetings with students, technicians and fellow colleagues.  That night we had a dinner out on the beach, which was a great way to wrap up the week. 

The sun disappearing to the south during the flight north.

Picture of the week: Spitzbergen's peaks through the mist on the approach.

Gusty conditions at Longyear airport.

Chistmas came a bit early this year.

I have spent the last 30 hours travelling back to Longyearbyen and am doing well with the time change. As I flew north, the sun dipped below the horizon and we landed in a blustery twilight.  It was great to see Nicole at the airport. I knew about 7 people in the airport, either leaving or there to pick up others, and it felt like I was coming home.  I felt like Santa, handing out the suitcases filled with requested bounty from the States.  After finishing this, I will try and tackle the Norwegian I missed these past 10 days….