EESI Congratulates Board Member Rosina Bierbaum on Selection by World Bank to Co-Direct World Development Report 2010

EESI wants to offer its congratulations to our Board Member, Rosina Bierbaum on being asked to co-author and co-direct this prestigious report for the World Bank which will focus on climate change and development. Below is a press release from the University of Michigan, where Rosina acts as Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Ann Arbor, Michigan,
April 18, 2008

Rosina M. Bierbaum, professor and dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan, has been selected by the World Bank to co-author and co-direct its prestigious World Development Report 2010, which will focus on climate change and development.

Dean Bierbaum will join Marianne Fay, World Bank lead economist in the Europe and Central Asia department, to jointly oversee the research and writing of the WDR 2010. Published since 1978, the World Development 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.

Katherine Sierra, vice president of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, said: "We are thrilled to have someone with Dr. Bierbaum's stature and experience in the climate change community to help lead this important research and writing project. It will contribute to shaping the World Bank's development policies on the critical issue of climate change and development, while also informing many decision-makers worldwide."

"Being asked to co-direct a report of this prestige and global significance is a great professional honor," said Dean Bierbaum, who has led SNRE since October 2001. "I believe my selection reflects well not only on my research and career but also on SNRE's growing reputation as a leader in environmental research and 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."

Dean Bierbaum is a recognized authority on global climate change. She has spent 20 years in public service at the federal level, first at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and then as director of the Environment Division of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. 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.

She led four U.S. delegations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In 1999, she was awarded the federal Environmental Protection Agency's "Climate Protection" award. She also serves as the vice chair of the United Nations Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change. In 2007, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed her to the Michigan Climate Action Council. To fulfill her duties, Dean Bierbaum will take a mid-term leave as dean for the 2008-09 academic year, which is from September to May. The University has started an internal search for an acting dean.

Past World Development Reports have explored agriculture, youth, equity, public services delivery, the role of the state, transition economies, labor, infrastructure, health, the environment, and poverty. For more on past Reports, visit www.econ.worldbank.org/wdr.

For more information, contact:
Kevin Merrill
Director of Communications
School of Natural Resources and Environment
merrillk@umich.edu
O: 734.936.2447
C: 734.417.739