UW Professor Contributed to Nobel Prize-Winning Work

(To contact Jason Shogren call (307) 766-5430 or (307) 760-5679.)

Oct. 12, 2007 -- A University of Wyoming professor is among the elite group of scientists that will share the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.

Along with Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is a collection of more than 2,000 natural and social scientists from around the globe, one of which was Jason Shogren, UW's Stroock professor of Natural Resource Conservation and Management. Shogren was among the lead authors for its third Assessment Report in 2001.

"The chapter I worked on looked at the cost and benefits on how to control climate," says Shogren says. He served in 1997 as the White House senior economist for environmental and natural resource policy, Council of Economic Advisors.

Additionally, Professor Gabor Vali, now retired from the UW Department of Atmospheric Science, in 2001 was a contributor to a chapter on “aerosols, their direct and indirect effects.” A specialist in cloud physics, Vali is widely recognized for his research on the formation and development of ice in the atmosphere and biosphere.

The announcement comes the same week that the University of Wyoming hosted "Finding the Balance: Energy and Climate," which brought together scientific experts and energy officials to examine the issues surrounding energy and climate change.

The IPCC, an organization of the United Nations, was established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program to evaluate the effect of human activity on climate change. To date the IPCC has released three Assessment Reports; the fourth assessment report is expected to be completed this year.

Scientists from around the world are nominated by their governments to serve on the organization.

"There's lots of people who worked on the IPCC and they should feel honored their efforts in raising the consciousness of climate change have been recognized," Shogren says.

Photo:
Sharing the Prize -- University of Wyoming Professor Jason Shogren met with former Vice President Al Gore when Shogren served as a White House senior economist in 1997. Shogren is among an elite group of scientists that will share with Gore the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Posted on Friday, October 12, 2007